News

WASHINGTON — On Wednesday, Free Press, Media Access Project, Public Knowledge, Consumers Union and the Open Technology Initiative of the New America Foundation filed a letter with the Federal Communications Commission asking the agency to combine its review of AT&T’s $39 billion takeover of competitor T-Mobile with its evaluation of AT&T’s $1.9 billion spectrum purchase from Qualcomm.

WASHINGTON — On Thursday, AT&T formally filed its application with the Federal Communications Commission to transfer spectrum licenses from T-Mobile to AT&T, officially beginning the merger review process. Both the FCC and the Department of Justice will be charged with evaluating the proposed merger’s potential harms to the wireless market and to consumers.

BOSTON — Sunday marked the end of the 2011 National Conference for Media Reform in Boston — an energetic and inspiring gathering that brought together more than 2,500 grassroots activists, policymakers, journalists and scholars from across the country, as well as thousands more online.

WASHINGTON — On Friday, the House of Representatives voted 240 to 179 to overturn the Federal Communications Commission’s Net Neutrality rules, adopted in December. The bill would rescind the FCC’s ability to protect Internet users and would let the largest phone and cable companies discriminate against content, applications and services at will.

BOSTON — More than 2,500 grassroots activists, policymakers, journalists and scholars from across the country streamed into the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston Friday for the National Conference for Media Reform, and tens of thousands more joined in through satellite TV and online through Twitter, Facebook and the Web.

WASHINGTON — On Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit dismissed challenges by Verizon and MetroPCS to the Net Neutrality rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission in December. In their challenges, Verizon and MetroPCS had argued that the FCC lacked authority to adopt the rules.

WASHINGTON — On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission fined a pair of television stations for airing commercials masquerading as news segments.

WASHINGTON – On Sunday, AT&T announced it had reached an agreement to takeover T-Mobile USA for $39 billion. If approved by federal regulators at the Department of Justice and the Federal Communications Commission, the merger would unite the second- and fourth-largest wireless carriers, representing nearly 130 million subscribers.

WASHINGTON — On Friday, the Federal Communications Commission voted to approve the Qwest-CenturyLink merger.

WASHINGTON — On Thursday, the House voted 228 to 192 to approve a bill (H.R. 1076) that would eliminate federal funding for NPR and prohibit local stations from using federal funds to purchase NPR programming.