News

WASHINGTON — On Monday, Federal Communications Commissioner Mignon Clyburn takes over as acting chairwoman of the agency. She’s the first woman to lead the FCC, and she will remain chairwoman until the Senate confirms her successor.

WASHINGTON — On Wednesday, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson told a group of investors that he expects content providers and app developers to pay him to keep their traffic from counting against mobile data caps. This follows earlier news that Verizon Wireless was in talks with ESPN to get the sports network paying the carrier so that ESPN content would not count against monthly limits.

WASHINGTON — On Monday, Free Press released Combating the Cable Cabal, a comprehensive analysis of the economics of the cable industry.

WASHINGTON — On Thursday, California Rep. Zoe Lofgren introduced a bill to restore wireless users’ ability to “unlock” their phones, tablets or other mobile devices.

President Obama is expected to nominate Tom Wheeler, a technology investor and former head of two major trade associations, as the next chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, according to the Wall Street Journal.

WASHINGTON — Bob Edgar, the president of Common Cause, former Pennsylvania congressman and church leader, passed away today at his home in Northern Virginia.

WASHINGTON — On Thursday, the House of Representatives voted to pass its privacy-threatening cybersecurity bill, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA).

The White House indicated on Tuesday that it would veto the bill in its current form given CISPA’s failure to safeguard privacy and civil liberties.

WASHINGTON – On Monday, DISH Network announced a $25.5 billion proposed merger with Sprint Nextel. The offer competes with a move by Japan’s SoftBank to acquire Sprint.

WASHINGTON - On Thursday the Department of Justice Antitrust Division sent a letter to the FCC calling on the agency to adopt “rules that ensure the smaller nationwide networks, which currently lack substantial low-frequency spectrum, have an opportunity to acquire such spectrum.”

DENVER — The 2013 National Conference for Media Reform wrapped up Sunday after three days of inspiring speeches, in-depth discussions and hands on workshops.