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TV-station owners may soon go on a buying spree, a consolidation wave that could limit programming options for viewers.

WASHINGTON — On Wednesday, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai issued a statement suggesting he will not reverse his Feb. 3 decision to revoke the Lifeline Broadband Provider status of nine internet service providers.

The House and Senate have approved a resolution that removes landmark privacy rules drafted by the FCC in 2016. Your internet service provider will no longer need your permission to sell information about what websites you visit, the apps you use or where you use them.

House Republicans showed Tuesday they care as little about your online privacy as their colleagues in the Senate.

One critic of the repeal, Craig Aaron, president of Free Press, said major Silicon Valley companies shied away from the fight over the rules because they profit from consumer data.

Critics of the move said it would have a “chilling effect” on online privacy.

WASHINGTON — On Tuesday, the House of Representatives passed a resolution of disapproval to overturn the Federal Communications Commission’s landmark broadband-privacy rules. The vote follows the Senate’s passage of the resolution last Thursday.

Legislators and activists may be raising alarm about attacks on Net Neutrality, but the tech industry has been conspicuously silent.

Sinclair Broadcast Group lined up a Republican regulator for a company conference in Baltimore’s Four Seasons hotel days after the Nov. 8 election.
Ajit Pai’s trip turned out to be a coup when Donald Trump’s surprise election win put Republicans in charge of the FCC.

Marsha Blackburn, sponsor of an anti-privacy measure up for a vote in Congress, has had a career financed by internet service providers.