The Senate Intellectual Property Subcommittee will explore site blocking as a form of internet piracy prevention, Chairman Thom Tillis, R-N.C., told us Tuesday after a hearing. Ranking member Chris Coons, D-Del., said he’s “open to it,” and it needs to be weighed against the speech concerns.
Notable CROSS rulings
State plaintiffs’ arguments T-Mobile would “pursue anticompetitive behavior” after buying Sprint weren't “sufficiently compelling" to block the transaction, wrote U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero for the Southern District of New York. Monday's 173-page decision (in Pacer) was released Tuesday (see 2002100061). He attached no new conditions.
Cox Enterprises, which has a minority stake in Cox Media Group, will buy CMG's Ohio newspapers that had been a barrier to Terrier Media's purchase of CMG, CMG said Monday. Cox Enterprises said the transaction won't affect its minority stake. CMG said the deal will mean the newspapers won't have to eliminate some daily editions so as to not violate the cross-ownership rule (see 1910310072). It said the newspaper deal is expected to close "in the coming weeks."
DOJ's contention the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit lacks jurisdiction under the Little Tucker Act to hear a case on Pacer usage fee legality found some receptivity among part of a three-judge Federal Circuit panel hearing oral argument Monday. Judges challenged plaintiff/appellant arguments Pacer fees can't be used to cover the costs of electronic records keeping. Plaintiff/appellant lawyer Deepak Gupta of Gupta Wessler told us a decision likely is months away.
The FCC’s new political ad file rules would burden broadcasters, swamp transparency advocates in irrelevant disclosures, and may be unconstitutional, said NAB, America's Communications Association, state broadcast associations and station groups. Their replies were filed in docket 19-363 by Tuesday night’s deadline in support of NAB’s petition for reconsideration. The rules cross “a constitutional line,” said Tech Freedom, comparing them to the fairness doctrine.
Artificial intelligence is among top tech priorities for the new European Commission and EU presidency. One key policy area for new EC President Ursula von der Leyen, a "Europe fit for the digital age," calls for legislation within her first 100 days in office on a coordinated European approach to "the human and ethical implications" of AI. The Croatian presidency, which took office Jan.1, is focused on 5G and looking toward AI and other emerging technologies. The EC approach backs a more collaborative, cross-topic approach to policymaking, those we spoke with said.
Telecom experts asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. District to clarify state utility commissioners have jurisdiction of intrastate telecom cost allocation (see 1907220051) got their day in court Friday. One judge had questions for both sides. Oral argument left one member of the "Irregulators" hopeful states may get some authority returned, he told us later. Irregulators v. FCC, is case 19-1085 (on Pacer).
Municipal broadband supporters see an opening to lift restrictions in Virginia, after Democrats flipped the legislature blue in the November election, they said in interviews this month. In week one of this year's session, Democrats floated three bills to explicitly authorize localities to provide broadband service. They're HB-1052 by Del. Mark Levine, HB-1242 by Del. Steve Heretick and SB-351 by Sen. Louise Lucas. Local advocates said it's a big policy turn from a 2017 bill to tighten such restrictions (see 1702210037).
Terrier Media wants to sell the Ohio daily newspapers acquired from its buy of Cox’s stations, said an FCC Media Bureau letter posted Wednesday in docket 19-98. Terrier planned to reduce the daily publication schedule of the papers -- which include the Dayton Daily News -- to three days a week to comply with the restored newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rules (see 1911220069). It was granted an extension of the deadline to arrange the sale, said the Media Bureau. The Thursday deadline to reduce publication was extended to March 16.
The FCC doesn’t need to clarify or firm up noncommercial educational station underwriting rules, said broadcasters and their attorneys in interviews last week. Underwriting violations led to a $76,000 penalty for two stations connected with the University of Arkansas last week (see 2001070048). The Enforcement Bureau noted the agency hasn’t adopted “quantitative guidelines” for underwriting announcements and the FCC “affords some latitude” to licensees that exercise reasonable good faith judgment.