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FCC to Test 'Net Neutrality' in Comcast Case

Service provider faces investigation over claims of traffic-blocking

(Newser) - The Federal Communications Commission will investigate allegations Comcast hinders file sharing by blocking internet traffic for some users, the AP reports. Reports last year showed Comcast interfered with popular BitTorrent file-transfer protocol. Comcast has denied blocking data, rather claiming it delays such transfers to maximize network efficiency for all users....

Feds Ease TV Switch With Coupons
Feds Ease TV Switch With Coupons
Jan 2, 2008 3:13 PM CST

Feds Ease TV Switch With Coupons

Money will help those who still use antennas upgrade to digital before '09

(Newser) - For the estimated 14.3 million households still getting their TV via antenna, there’s hope: The federal government yesterday began handing out $40 coupons to help buy converters ahead of the 2009 digital cutoff, the AP reports. The problem, Congress says, is that few know about the $1.5...

Paul Allen to Bid in FCC Wireless Airwaves Auction

Airwave auction draws applications from a diverse group from Google to Chevron to AT&T

(Newser) - Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is joining the competition for wireless airwaves being auctioned by the FCC next month. Allen’s firm, Vulcan Spectrum, applied, as have Google, Verizon, AT&T and others, to bid for the 700-megahertz spectrum that goes on the block Jan. 24, reports Reuters. Allen's investment company,...

FCC Loosens Cross-Media Ownership Ban

Newspapers, local TV stations can share parent company

(Newser) - The FCC loosened a 32-year-old ban on simultaneous ownership of a newspaper and a radio or TV station in the same city today, the Washington Post reports. The commission voted 3-2 along party lines after a dispute-filled meeting. Afterward, one of the Democratic commissioners said, "Powerful companies are using...

FCC Angers All Sides With New Media Rules

Cable companies fume at limits, and senators protest relaxed regs

(Newser) - The FCC is set to push through new rules on media ownership today, to the consternation of everyone from telecoms to free-speech advocates, writes the Wall Street Journal. The commission will introduce two new regulations: one will allow media companies to buy both newspapers and television stations in the top...

FCC Chief Won't Delay Media Vote
FCC Chief
Won't Delay Media Vote
Dec 14, 2007 10:31 AM CST

FCC Chief Won't Delay Media Vote

Defiant Martin wants to relax ownership rules in broadcast, print

(Newser) - FCC chief Kevin Martin will push ahead with a vote next week to allow media companies to own a broadcasting station and newspaper in the same city, the Wall Street Journal reports. The move comes despite heavy criticism from senators who say he's rushing into a major policy change without...

FCC Asked to Stop Text Censoring
FCC Asked
to Stop Text Censoring
Dec 11, 2007 10:33 AM CST

FCC Asked to Stop Text Censoring

Net neutrality advocates object to providers blocking messages

(Newser) - Consumer groups have banded together to lobby the FCC to prevent cellphone companies from blocking text messages, the Washington Post reports. The issue of carriers censoring messages from political groups and competing services has become the latest front in the net neutrality campaign. Consumers Union and other advocates are insisting...

FCC Chief Gets Grilled on Hill
FCC Chief Gets Grilled on Hill
Dec 6, 2007 1:37 PM CST

FCC Chief Gets Grilled on Hill

House members want cross-ownership vote delayed; Dems plead for oversight

(Newser) - FCC Chairman Kevin Martin faced angry questioning from both sides of the aisle at a House oversight meeting yesterday, as many urged the commissioner to delay December 18's vote on a controversial change to media cross-ownership rules. Martin said the plan, which would allow companies to own both a newspaper...

Congress Opens Investigation Into FCC Chair

Martin faces bipartisan rancor over media ownership laws

(Newser) - The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Kevin J. Martin, is facing a Congressional probe over abuses of power, Variety reports. The head of the House Commerce Committee sent the FCC head a letter alleging "a larger breakdown in the agency." Members of both parties in Congress have...

FCC to Give Stalled Tribune Sale a Push

(Newser) - Sam Zell’s $8.2-billion bid to take the Tribune Company private got a boost yesterday from  FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, who green-lighted a two-year exemption on rules barring ownership of newspapers and broadcast stations in the same market. Zell needs waivers for five markets in which the Tribune has...

FCC Chief Backs Down on Cable Plans
FCC Chief Backs Down
on Cable Plans
Nov 28, 2007 12:41 AM CST

FCC Chief Backs Down on Cable Plans

Martin's data slammed; vote on more regulation delayed until next year

(Newser) - FCC boss Kevin Martin has lost a big battle in his attempt to tighten up regulation of cable TV, reports the New York Times. After strenuous efforts by cable lobbyists leading up to a heated meeting last night, Martin agreed to push back until next year a vote on expanding...

Verizon Opens Up Wireless Network
Verizon Opens Up Wireless Network
Nov 27, 2007 3:35 PM CST

Verizon Opens Up Wireless Network

Carrier will allow use of any compatible cellphone

(Newser) - On the heels of Google's plans for an open-source wireless platform, Verizon Wireless has announced that it will open up its own network to any compatible phone and will allow access to third-party applications. Sprint is currently the only other major carrier using CDMA technology, and Verizon had been fiercely...

I Swear! And More and More, in Public

Profanity has moved beyond private discourse, experts say

(Newser) - Profanity seems to be more and more widespread, but linguists suggest people aren't actually swearing more—they're just swearing more publicly. The tide of athletes and musicians who pepper their language with choice four-letter words is meeting a surge of media avenues that aren't regulated by the government, resulting in...

FCC Chief May Not Have Votes to Curb Cable

Martin is struggling for majority of 5-member commission

(Newser) - FCC chief Kevin Martin may not have the votes he needs to initiate regulation of the cable industry, reports the New York Times. Martin has scheduled a vote for tomorrow to approve a formal finding that the cable industry has grown too big, which would give the commission power to...

FCC Gives Boost to 'Telehealth'
FCC Gives Boost to 'Telehealth'
Nov 21, 2007 12:04 PM CST

FCC Gives Boost to 'Telehealth'

$417M in grants will bring broadband to rural hospitals

(Newser) - High-speed Internet access funded by $417 million in FCC grants will change how healthcare is provided in rural or heard-to-reach areas across the US, bringing top-end clinical and diagnostic resourced to underserved patients and doctors, the Washington Post reports. Some 6,000 clinics, hospitals, research facilities and universities will be...

House GOP Group Slams FCC on Cable
House GOP Group Slams FCC on Cable
Nov 20, 2007 1:18 AM CST

House GOP Group Slams FCC on Cable

'Too much regulation' of industry, say Kevin Martin's fellow Republicans

(Newser) - Republican lawmakers have attacked FCC chairman Kevin Martin's plans to step up regulation of the cable industry, the Wall Street Journal reports. All but two of the 26 Republicans on the House Commerce Committee have signed a letter calling the plans "misguided and harmful." The FCC boss has...

Cable Stock Pounding Not Over Yet
Cable Stock Pounding
Not Over Yet
Nov 19, 2007 3:07 PM CST

Cable Stock Pounding Not Over Yet

Broadcasting & Cable cites industry's growing list of problems

(Newser) - Cable stocks are getting beaten up badly thanks to a combination of factors—subscribers fleeing to satellite and other services, a general market gloom that is compounded for often-complicated cable stocks, and news that the FCC plans to beef up its oversight. Led by industry giant Comcast, the group's stocks...

UN Agreement May Boost US Spectrum Bids

Google, Yahoo, Apple all seen jumping into Jan. 700 Mhz auction

(Newser) - Thanks to an agreement at a month-long UN telecom conference in Geneva, the cost for rights to use new US wireless spectrum going on the block in January may have just increased. Google, Yahoo and Apple are among the companies expected to a battle for licenses to the 700 Mhz...

Google's Grand Plan for National Cell Phone Network

Eyes major airwaves grab for phone system

(Newser) - Internet giant Google wants to reshape the wireless world, and its plans reach far beyond the cell phone software the company introduced last week. At a Federal Communications Commission auction in January, the company may make a $4.6 billion solo bid to buy airwaves to run its own national...

Comcast Sued Over File-Sharing Interference

Telecom giant says it slows high-volume users to protect wider network

(Newser) - A subscriber has sued Comcast for slowing file-sharing activities after an AP report last month showed that the nation's largest cable company falsely signals file-sharing software that the network connection has dropped. The man alleges that Comcast misleads consumers by claiming it offers "mind-blowing" speeds and "unfettered access"...

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