News

WASHINGTON — House Oversight Committee Chair Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) sent a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chair Julius Genachowski questioning the conduct of outgoing Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker, who announced last week she would be leaving the agency to become a lobbyist for Comcast-NBC.

WASHINGTON — On Friday, the House Energy and Commerce communications subcommittee held a hearing on “FCC Process Reform.” Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski and all four commissioners were invited to testify. However, soon-to-depart Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker was a no-show.

WASHINGTON — Federal Communications Commissioner Meredith Atwell Baker reportedly will be departing the agency in June to take a job with Comcast-NBC — a company whose multi-billion mega-merger she approved just four months ago.

WASHINGTON — Free Press today endorsed a bill designed to prevent discriminatory practices by cable operators and to ensure a level playing field for community voices in an increasingly consolidated cable industry. The bipartisan Community Access Preservation Act (HR 1746), co-sponsored by Reps.

WASHINGTON – In advance of a Senate hearing on Wednesday about the proposed $39 billion merger of AT&T and T-Mobile, Free Press has issued a preliminary analysis of key antitrust problems with the transaction.

WASHINGTON — Un nuevo informe de Free Press publicado el pasado lunes revela profundas disparidades entre la cantidad de noticias locales ofrecidas en los canales de habla inglesa y de habla hispana de Comcast.

WASHINGTON — A new Free Press report released Monday reveals deep disparities between the amount of local news offered on Comcast’s English- and Spanish-language stations.

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.