News

WASHINGTON – Senators Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) introduced a bill Friday that would eliminate federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. DeMint also attacked public broadcasting in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published the same day.

WASHINGTON — In its March open meeting Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on reforms to the Universal Service Fund’s Lifeline and Link-Up programs. Lifeline and Link-Up provide discounts on monthly service and initial installation or activation fees for telephone service to income-eligible consumers.

In response to the announcement of the The Reforming Airwaves by Developing Incentives and Opportunistic Sharing (RADIOS) Act, Free Press Policy Counsel M. Chris Riley made the following statement:

WASHINGTON — In its March open meeting on Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the issue of retransmission consent.

WASHINGTON — On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously against AT&T’s claim that personal privacy rights prevent the federal government from disclosing agency records that might reveal corporate wrongdoing to the public. The case, Federal Communications Commission v. AT&T, No.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), in a speech to religious broadcasters on Sunday, warned that “the FCC is creeping further into the free market by trying to regulate the Internet.” The speaker was referring to the Federal Communications Commission’s Open Internet rules issued last December.

WASHINGTON — According to reports Monday, cable operator and Internet service provider Mediacom appears to have been caught hijacking its users’ Web-browsing activity for the purpose of injecting unsolicited advertisements.

PHILADELPHIA – On Thursday, public interest advocates are presenting oral arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in a case challenging the Federal Communications Commission’s 2007 decision to lift the 35-year-old ban on newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership.

On Wednesday, Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Al Franken (D-Minn.) sent a letter to Senate leadership objecting to an amendment included in the House budget that would prevent the FCC from enforcing its open Internet rules and opposing a “resolution of disapproval” in Congress that would overturn the FCC’s rules altogether.

WASHINGTON — On Tuesday, Free Press, Media Access Project, Media Mobilizing Project, Access Humboldt and Mountain Area Information Network filed motions to intervene in the Verizon and MetroPCS appeals of the Federal Communications Commission’s open Internet order.