News

WASHINGTON — On Monday, stories broke that the Federal Communications Commission would no longer pursue an order put forth by then-Chairman Julius Genachowski that would have gutted the agency’s newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rules.

The FCC did not indicate what its plans were for the order, which was a part of the 2010 Quadrennial Review, nor did it specify its plans for the upcoming 2014 review.

WASHINGTON — On Monday, the Department of Justice announced that it would require Gannett to divest TV station KMOV in St. Louis before it would consider approving Gannett’s acquisition of Belo’s 20 stations.

WASHINGTON — On Friday, the Wall Street Journal broke the news that Sprint may be considering a bid for T-Mobile in early 2014. Such a deal would be subject to approval from both the Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice.

WASHINGTON — On Thursday, the FCC received a status report from its Technology Transitions task force. The presentation laid out a preliminary framework for considering issues raised by ongoing upgrades to public communications networks, known as the IP transition.

WASHINGTON — On Monday, Sen. Jay Rockefeller sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler supporting media ownership limits and acknowledging concerns about broadcasters’ use of shell companies and other shady tactics to skirt those rules.

WASHINGTON — On Thursday, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler sent a letter to CTIA, the trade group representing wireless companies, calling on it to adopt consumer-friendly cellphone-unlocking policies and to inform customers of those policies. The letter suggested that without voluntary action from the companies, the FCC would step in.

WASHINGTON — On Tuesday, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller introduced the Consumer Choice in Online Video Act. The bill would help online video companies like Netflix compete alongside traditional pay-TV providers and would keep broadband Internet service providers from trying to squelch those alternatives.

WASHINGTON — Late Tuesday, the Senate unanimously confirmed Tom Wheeler as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Michael O’Rielly was also confirmed as a commissioner.

UPDATE: A gutted version of the USA Freedom Act passed in the House on May 22. Because that bill removed many of the privacy protections that were present in earlier forms of the bill, the Free Press Action Fund did not support it.

WASHINGTON — On Thursday, the Sinclair Broadcast Group responded to a report Free Press released this week.