The heads of the biggest publicly traded U.S. telecom, media and tech (TMT) companies averaged 44% increases in their compensation packages between 2020 and 2021, per our analysis of their FY 2022 proxy filings with the SEC. The average compensation package for those CEOs totaled $7.1 million; the median employee at those companies in FY 2021 had a compensation package averaging $102,838, according to our calculations.
Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., will meet with ranking member Roger Wicker, R-Miss., Monday afternoon for renewed privacy negotiations, a committee member told us last week.
Broadcasters are looking for intervention by either the FCC or Congress to allow them to run ads for marijuana products in states where cannabis or medical marijuana have been legalized, said broadcast attorneys and industry officials in interviews. Because marijuana remains a federally controlled substance, broadcasters fear losing their FCC licenses for running the ads even where cannabis is legal, attorneys told us. State broadcast associations and NAB have been pushing for legislation on the issue, but NAB Executive Vice President-Government Relations Shawn Donilon said at an NAB 2022 panel in April that those could “prove elusive” in the current Congress. Donilon said then NAB could seek potential relief at the FCC in the meantime, but industry officials told us no such request is imminent. Agency clarification on the matter would likely be enough to satisfy broadcasters, said Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Frank Montero.
NTIA released notices of funding opportunity Friday for applicants interested in its broadband, equity, access and deployment, middle-mile grant, and state digital equity planning grant programs funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The agency cited “end-to-end fiber-optic architecture” as priority broadband projects and encouraged states to give the greatest consideration to subgrantees committed to providing 1 Gbps services at an affordable rate as part of the BEAD program.
Tech groups could soon go to the Supreme Court, after the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals lifted a lower court’s temporary ban on Texas’ social media law. Judges issued the 2-1 order, without written explanation, two days after oral argument (see 2205100002). The order signals that the 5th Circuit is likely to reverse the district court soon, said supporters and opponents of the state law, in interviews. They predicted litigation will quickly heat up.
The FTC should look “very closely” at Amazon’s purchase of MGM (see 2203170007), Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said Thursday. The agency didn’t challenge the deal before it closed in March, but Chair Lina Khan has been without a Democratic majority since October. The Senate confirmed Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya this week, restoring the majority (see 2205110069). The FTC said in August the “the law permits the antitrust agencies to determine that a merger is illegal even after the companies have merged.”
Disney’s linear networks are “huge cash generators for us,” said CEO Bob Chapek, responding to a question on a fiscal Q2 earnings call Wednesday about what’s holding him back from converting ESPN to a streaming-only service. The U.S. launch of the Disney+ ad-supported subscription tier (see 2203040042) is on track for later in calendar 2022, he said.
China has a growing presence in telecom standards bodies like the 3rd Generation Partnership Project, but experts said the U.S. still has significant influence, during a USTelecom webinar Thursday. Experts agreed the election of American Doreen Bogdan-Martin as ITU secretary-general is important to the development of industry-led standards (see 2205110039). The President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC) is scheduled to vote at a May 24 meeting on a draft letter to the president on standards.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s Wednesday testimony to the Senate Appropriations Commerce Subcommittee that the FCC will “possibly” have its revised broadband coverage data map ready in November (see 2205110073) “is correct,” an FCC spokesperson emailed us. “We’ve been working together closely on these efforts.” Raimondo emphasized on Thursday the coming maps’ importance to NTIA’s plans for disbursing its $48 billion in broadband money from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. She spoke during a House Appropriations Commerce Subcommittee hearing on the Commerce Department’s FY 2023 budget request.
The Senate confirmed FTC nominee Alvaro Bedoya 51-50 Wednesday, restoring Chair Lina Khan’s Democratic majority at the commission. The Senate Commerce Committee voted unanimously during a hearing in support of a proposal that would end the agency’s practice of so-called “zombie voting,” a tactic Democratic Commissioner Rohit Chopra used after he left the agency (see 2112030042).