Who owns, controls, or influences media and telecommunications outlets.
Ownership
The Democratic platform is doubling down on tech antitrust and children’s online safety
While billionaires have pushed Vice President Kamala Harris (D-CA) to depart from President Joe Biden’s antitrust policy, the Democratic Party seems to be doubling down. The word “competition” comes up 18 times in the party’s 2024 platform, compared to nine in the 2020 version.
Judge Blocks Launch of Sports Streaming Service
U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett blocked Discovery, Fox, and Disney's new sports streaming service, Venu, from launching, a major blow to the effort. Judge Garnett that the new offering would “substantially lessen competition and restrain trade.” Fubo, a sports-centric streaming service, sued the three companies earlier this year after they announced the joint venture.
Breaking up Google is hard to do
A federal judge is actively considering breaking up Google after a landmark ruling last week that the tech giant has illegally abused its search monopoly. A court
Kamala’s tech ties: what is VP Harris’s relationship with Silicon Valley?
A recent San Francisco fundraiser for Vice President Kamala Harris (D-CA), which raised more than $12 million, was the latest in the Harris campaign’s outreach to tech Democrats and an extension of a relationship with Silicon Valley elites that goes back more than a decade. Harris has extensive ties to some of the tech industry’s most influential players and prolific donors, in part due to her time as California’s attorney general and later,
Brightspeed gets whopping $3.7 Billion in financing to build fiber networks
Brightspeed, the company that bought Lumen Technologies’ copper assets in 20 markets, has won $3.7 billion in new financing to spend toward its fiber buildouts. The financing comes from a syndicate of bankers and other investors led by Brightspeed’s parent company Apollo Global Management. Apollo paid $7.5 billion for Brightspeed in 2022. Brightspeed CEO Tom Maguire said, “The same people who funded the original go-around are back again. I take that as a good sign.
6 ways the Google antitrust ruling could change the internet
A federal judge said on August 5 that Google broke the law to kneecap competition in web search in ways that entrenched the company’s power. The next steps, which involve proposing legal fixes to undo Google’s behavior, are essentially about imagining an alternative future in which Google isn’t Google as we know it. We have the internet we have, and it’s hard to imagine something different or if you’d like it more, but here are six possible alternati
‘Google Is a Monopolist,’ Judge Rules in Landmark Antitrust Case
Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in online search, Judge Amit Mehta of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled, a landmark decision that strikes at the power of tech giants in the modern internet era and that may fundamentally alter the way they do business. Judge Mehta said that Google had abused a monopoly over the search business.
T-Mobile Has a New Side Gig: Fiber Internet
T-Mobile is sneaking into the cable industry’s backyard. The second-biggest cellphone carrier by subscribers has pieced together at least five partnerships with fiber-optic internet providers that could serve millions of customers in the coming years.
AccessPlus to Acquire Crocker Communications, Inc. to Accelerate Massachusetts Expansion
A definitive agreement has been signed by which AccessPlus will acquire Crocker Communications, a third-generation, renowned telecommunications leader based in Greenfield and Springfield, Massachusetts. The closing of the transaction will follow Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and state regulatory approvals and is expected to occur in the third quarter of 2024. The acquisition includes Crocker Communications’ assets and its robust customer base, encompassing approximately 2,000 government, education, and residential clients.
Senators Urge DOJ and FCC to Closely Scrutinize T-Mobile Acquisition of UScellular
US senators wrote to Jonathan Kanter, Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Jessica Rosenworcel, Chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), urging them to closely scrutinize T-Mobile’s proposed acquisition of UScellular. Since T-Mobile acquired Sprint in 2020, just three carriers have dominated the national mobile wireless service market.