The FTC appears to be taking too broad of an approach to its potential privacy rulemaking (see 2204180049), Commissioner Noah Phillips told us Monday. He spoke at a George Mason University event the day after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced the Senate plans to confirm Alvaro Bedoya as fifth commissioner this week.
LAS VEGAS -- FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel kept her cards close on future FCC broadcasting policy during a Q&A at the NAB Show 2022 Monday but pleased many broadcasters by repeatedly emphasizing her admiration for local broadcasting. “Your power is that you’re not like everyone else,” Rosenworcel told NAB CEO Curtis LeGeyt and the broadcasters. “What makes you unique is that you’re local.” Her “appreciation for local was apparent,” said Salem CEO David Santrella in an interview after her remarks: “When two parties get together to negotiate something, if one has no appreciation for what the other brings to the table, the negotiation rarely goes well.”
LAS VEGAS -- Broadcasters have made great progress toward realizing the promise of ATSC 3.0, but for the transition to succeed long term they need the FCC to sunset the requirement that 3.0 broadcasts be "substantially similar" to ATSC 1.0 content, said several broadcast executives on multiple weekend panels at the NAB Show 2022.
State engagement in antitrust cases has “significantly increased because of Big Tech,” Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson (R) said at a Nebraska Governance and Technology Center conference livestreamed Friday. With increasing interest in tech litigation and legislation, states should seek to avoid unintended consequences, warned academics and industry officials.
The FTC and DOJ are relying on faulty antitrust theories to single out digital platforms, tech industry groups told the agencies in comments on enforcers’ review of merger guidelines (see 2204080056). Sector-specific antitrust laws are appropriate due to the unprecedented control companies like Amazon, Facebook and Google have over digital markets, consumer groups told the agencies.
Verizon’s stock closed Friday at $51.91, down 5.64%, after management lowered guidance slightly for full-year 2022 as the company released Q1 results. CEO Hans Vestberg said the company’s 5G build is going well, as is its deployment using C-band spectrum. Verizon predicted adjusted earnings will be at the low end of prior guidance of 2% to 3% growth, and revenue will grow at the lower end of its 9% to 10% forecast.
The Computer & Communications Industry Association, Netflix, Huawei and Apple reported the largest percentage increases in Q1 lobbying spending among telecom and tech sector entities, based on filings Wednesday. Disney, IBM and T-Mobile reported the biggest percentage spending decreases for the quarter. Facebook parent company Meta, Amazon and CTIA were the top sector spenders for Q1. Most entities boosted their spending or stayed level compared with the same period in 2021.
Two weeks after finalizing the WarnerMedia deal with Discovery, AT&T reported mixed Q1 results Thursday, though executives said they’re still on track in the “back half” of the year to start deploying 5G using the 3.45 GHz and C-band licenses bought in recent auctions (see 2201260055). AT&T is following a different strategy from Verizon, which is several months into its C-band build.
NTIA plans to release a notice of funding opportunity for its digital equity program when it releases notices for the broadband, equity, access and deployment program and middle-mile broadband infrastructure program, said Administrator Alan Davidson Thursday during a Brookings Institution webinar on achieving universal broadband. “That’s the starting gun,” Davidson said, and the notices will “lay out how the programs will be built and how people can participate.”
California regulators scaled back price and speed requirements proposed for a $2 billion last-mile federal funding account (FFA) required by the state’s $6 billion broadband law. The California Public Utilities Commission voted 5-0 at a livestreamed Thursday meeting to adopt CPUC President Alice Reynolds’ revised proposed decision released Wednesday.