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American consumers are used to thinking of their internet service as a public utility, similar to turning on the tap and getting a consistent stream of water.
But those perceptions may soon be challenged by the FCC.

WASHINGTON — On Tuesday, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai circulated a proposal to review and revise the agency’s national television-ownership cap.

If you want to understand how AT&T’s proposed $85-billion purchase of Time Warner might affect you, you only have to be a Taylor Swift fan.

WASHINGTON — On Tuesday, the Department of Justice moved to block AT&T’s $85.4-billion takeover of Time Warner on antitrust grounds.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, critics warn, is aiming to “destroy the internet as we know it and give even more gatekeeper power to a few huge companies like AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon.”

Federal regulators took steps Thursday to ease broadcast-ownership restrictions, a move seen as favorable for the Sinclair Broadcast Group’s proposed $3.9 billion takeover of Tribune Media.

Poor people would be cut off from their communities and from potential employers under a proposal approved Thursday to dramatically shrink a program Ronald Reagan created to subsidize phone service for the destitute.

The Lifeline service, which aims to give broadband to low-income people, has been derided by conservatives.

WASHINGTON — The FCC voted along party lines on Thursday to move forward plans to eviscerate the Lifeline program, which provides a modest $9.25 monthly subsidy to most recipients so that millions of poor people can connect to communications services.

The FCC wants to roll back landmark media-ownership regulations that prohibit owning a television station and newspaper in the same market and making it easier to acquire additional TV or radio stations, Chairman Ajit Pai said on Wednesday.