Research

For several months, my office has been aware of and cooperating with the Office of Inspector General’s independent investigation into the incident involving the FCC’s Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS) that took place on May 7-8, 2017.

A study of the causal effects of access to high-speed Internet on sleep. Playing video games, using PC or smartphones, watching TV or movies are correlated with shorter sleep duration. The researchers exploit historical differences in pre-existing telephone infrastructure that affected the deployment of high-speed Internet across Germany to identify a source of plausibly exogenous variation in access to broadband. Using this instrumental variable strategy, they find that access to high-speed Internet (DSL) access reduces sleep duration and sleep satisfaction.

The wireless sector enjoyed its biggest quarter-over-quarter jump in service revenue in five years, according to Chetan Sharma Consulting. The good news extended to all four major carriers, with T-Mobile leading the way with 7% growth. Chetan Sharma  finds:

In recent years AT&T and Verizon have eliminated their cheaper rate tiers for low and mid-speed Internet access, except at the very slowest levels. Each company now charges essentially identical monthly prices – $63-$65 a month after first-year discounts have ended – for home wireline broadband connections at almost any speed up to 100/100 Mbps fiber service. This policy of upward “tier flattening” raises the cost of Internet access for urban and rural AT&T and Verizon customers who only have access to the oldest, slowest legacy infrastructure.

For years, national cable and telecom companies have complained that they work in a tough industry because “there’s too much broadband competition.” Such a subjective statement has created confusion among subscribers, policymakers, and elected officials. Many people, especially those in rural areas, have little or no choice.

The Federal Communications Commission seeks information and data for the Commission’s analysis of fixed broadband competition as required by RAY BAUM’S Act of 2018. This Public Notice requests comment on the criteria or metrics that should be used to evaluate the state of fixed broadband competition. Comment and information also is sought on industry data, competitive dynamics, and trending factors in the industry, including but not limited to, subscribership numbers, financial indicators (such as revenues or profitability), investment, pricing, and network coverage.

American democracy, like any democracy, requires the freedom to speak. But American democracy has always recognized the corollary: the strength of speech rests on access to communications networks. From the Post Office, to the telegraph, the telephone, and broadband, governmental action of various stripes has helped connect Americans to each other. The Benton Foundation serves that mission. Our goal: To bring open, affordable, high-capacity broadband to all people in the U.S.

A new poll from Quinnipiac University finds that most Americans disapprove of how the media cover President Donald Trump, a function of a majority of independents disapproving of that coverage. Among Republicans, though, nearly 9 in 10 disapprove of the media coverage. Most Americans also disapprove of how President Trump talks about the media.

While highly ideological members of Congress tend to use their Facebook posts to criticize political opponents and support their allies, moderate lawmakers are more likely to concentrate on local issues in their outreach on the platform. For the average moderate legislator, about 54% of a member’s Facebook posts discussed places, groups, individuals or events in the politician’s state or district.

Recent research from Gallup and Knight Foundation investigated how the use of opinion- or behavior-based metrics influenced study participants’ level of trust in the media.  Each participant was randomly assigned to an experimental group that viewed a news article and certain average historical trust ratings of the news source.