Just who is bankrolling the efforts by national advocacy groups (WID Sept. 11 p1) to generate hundreds of thousands of comments to the FCC in the net neutrality debate is murky. Phil Kerpen, president of free-market American Commitment, which said this week it’s countering the mobilization efforts of pro-Title II groups, declined to say where the organization gets its funding. Two of the pro-Title II groups that organized Wednesday’s Internet slowdown protest disclosed to us their major donors, but neither fully made its funders public. Two other protest organizers would not say how their efforts are being funded.
Just who is bankrolling the efforts by national advocacy groups (CD Sept 11 p10) to generate hundreds of thousands of comments to the FCC in the net neutrality debate is murky. Phil Kerpen, president of free-market American Commitment, which said this week it’s countering the mobilization efforts of pro-Title II groups, declined to say where the organization gets its funding. Two of the pro-Title II groups that organized Wednesday’s Internet slowdown protest disclosed to us their major donors, but neither fully made its funders public. Two other protest organizers wouldn’t say how their efforts are being funded.
DENVER -- Control4 acquired U.K.-based Extra Vegetables, supplier of integration modules and drivers for Control4 and other control systems companies, it announced at CEDIA Expo Thursday. According to an 8-K SEC filing, purchase price was $882,246 cash, which included a base payment of $675,000 and $207,246 for Extra Vegetables’ net working capital. Control4’s cash and cash equivalents funded the acquisition, the filing said.
As pro-Communications Act Title II advocates said their online protest triggered nearly 40,000 phone calls to Congress, the White House and the FCC by noon Wednesday saying paid prioritization would slow the Internet, free market-group American Commitment said it was countering the effort by asking more than 2 million people by social media this week to sign a petition opposing federal intervention in the Internet. The FCC meanwhile hasn’t made any decisions on how wireless will be treated on net neutrality. (See separate report above in this issue.)
As pro-Communications Act Title II advocates said their online protest triggered nearly 40,000 phone calls to Congress, the White House and the FCC by noon Wednesday saying paid prioritization would slow the Internet, free market-group American Commitment said it was countering the effort by asking more than 2 million people by social media this week to sign a petition opposing federal intervention in the Internet. The group, as an IRS 501(c)(4) “social welfare” organization, is not required to disclose its donors and has donated millions of dollars to Republican candidates, according to the Center for Responsive Politics (http://bit.ly/1qLU7n6).
The Henrico County School District’s application for review of its denial for E-rate funding was denied by the FCC, in an order (http://bit.ly/1pya507) released Thursday. The Wireline Bureau had upheld the Universal Service Administrative Company’s denial of the Richmond, Virginia-area school district’s funding requests for funding year 2008, said the order, which was adopted Wednesday. The bureau said Henrico violated the commission’s competitive bidding rules by failing to use price as the primary factor in selecting vendors for telecommunications and high-speed Internet access, the order said. Commissioner Ajit Pail concurred with the decision but criticized the bidding process. The bidding rule doesn’t require the lowest-priced bid to be selected, Pai said in a statement. It requires only that cost must be given “more weight” than any other factor -- “so if an applicant considers ten factors, price could be weighted as little as 11 percent,” said Pai, who called the rule “nothing more than a paperwork exercise” that “elevates form over substance."
The Henrico County School District’s application for review of its denial for E-rate funding was denied by the FCC, in an order (http://bit.ly/1pya507) released Thursday. The Wireline Bureau had upheld the Universal Service Administrative Company’s denial of the Richmond, Virginia-area school district’s funding requests for funding year 2008, said the order, which was adopted Wednesday. The bureau said Henrico violated the commission’s competitive bidding rules by failing to use price as the primary factor in selecting vendors for telecommunications and high-speed Internet access, the order said. Commissioner Ajit Pail concurred with the decision but criticized the bidding process. The bidding rule doesn’t require the lowest-priced bid to be selected, Pai said in a statement. It requires only that cost must be given “more weight” than any other factor -- “so if an applicant considers ten factors, price could be weighted as little as 11 percent,” said Pai, who called the rule “nothing more than a paperwork exercise” that “elevates form over substance."
Saying “meaningful competition for high-speed wired broadband is lacking,” even as the demand for “faster and better Internet” is growing, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said the agency would move to promote more broadband competition in places where it’s lacking and preserve it where it exists.
Saying “meaningful competition for high-speed wired broadband is lacking,” even as the demand for “faster and better Internet” is growing, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said the agency would move to promote more broadband competition in places where it’s lacking and preserve it where it exists.
Saying “meaningful competition for high-speed wired broadband is lacking,” even as the demand for “faster and better Internet” is growing, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said the agency would move to promote more broadband competition in places where it’s lacking and preserve it where it exists.