Free Press Newswire

The issue of retransmission consent and whether that process needed fixing was a running theme during the Senate Commerce Committee hearing on the Comcast-NBCU deal. Leading the pack was Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.).

The FCC is asking the nation's broadband and smartphone users to use their broadband testing tools to help the feds and consumers know what speeds are actually available, not just promised by the nations' telecoms.

The FCC launched a broadband test service to help consumers clock the speed of their Internet. Located at the site www.broadband.gov, the test is aimed at allowing consumers to compare their actual speeds with the speeds advertised by their providers.

Lawmakers in Washington again grilled Comcast CEO Brian Roberts over plans by the cabler to acquire a majority stake in NBC Universal, and this time the Writers Guild of America West President John Wells was there to disparage the proposal.

FCC Commissioner Michael Copps was in Los Angeles, Calif. to present a major new study of the L.A. media market by the USC Annenberg School's Norman Lear Center. The study showed that, among other things, the average 30-minute TV newscast packs all of its local government coverage into just 22 seconds.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) said she opposes the $30 billion deal that would allow Comcast to acquire a majority stake in NBC Universal. She is worried that, by allowing a major content producer to merge with a major content distributor, consumers could have fewer options for programming and access to that programming.

Looks like March 12 can be added to the list of deadlines for the FCC's national broadband plan. According to a recent memo to Senate and House staffers, the FCC plans to brief Hill staffers on that date.

Writers Guild of America West President John Wells warned senators that the proposed Comast-NBC Universal deal would create a media "superpower" and give too much control to a few multinationals.

The chairman of the FCC said the agency was considering changes to ensure that cable television customers do not lose access to broadcast stations because of fee disputes between broadcasters and cable companies.

Why haven't America's old-school news organizations blown the whistle on Roger Ailes, chief of Fox News, for using the network to conduct a propaganda campaign against the Obama administration -- a campaign without precedent in our modern political history?

Los Angeles may be hemorrhaging red ink, but "if it bleeds it leads' doesn't apply to news coverage of its fiscal woes. Though crime led local TV news in Los Angeles on one out of three broadcasts, stories about L.A.'s budget crisis topped local news only one time out of 100, according to a new report.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski's recently called for identifing new spectrum for mobile broadband. His proposal was to "buy back" licenses from broadcasters. This implies that broadcasters own those licenses and even paid for them. Like any other radio frequency license, broadcast licenses are owned by the people and held in public trust by the licensees. So what exactly are we compensating them for?

Sporting a logo of the Comcast "C" devouring the NBC Peacock, Free Press was circulated an e-mail calling on its members to ask their Senator to block the deal.

A member of the FCC blasted Internet service providers for raising prices for some of its broadband services recently, just as the agency attempts to bring more affordable access to U.S. households.

Among those who care about serious journalism, some are counting on an economic comeback that will bring sufficient advertising back to newspapers and Web sites to support quality reporting; others bet on the evolution of pay walls and a public that will change course and learn to buy news content. But what if none of these things work? What is left?

Saying the Supreme Court's decision "turns the idea of government of, by and for the people on its head," Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) held a hearing on the Supreme Court's decision in the Citizen's United case.

Regulating big consumer issues such as the availability of Internet apps on mobile devices and metered broadband are outside the FCC's authority, said Kevin Martin, the former FCC chairman.

The House Energy & Commerce Committee passed the spectrum inventory bill by voice vote with an amendment that lengthens from two to four years the time in which the FCC and the NTIA are required to make recommendations to Congress about spectrum reallocation or sharing. It also puts more emphasis on looking beyond the broadcast band to other spectrum.

Laying more fiber is one way to make more efficient use of wireless spectrum, former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said. "A significant amount of mobile broadband activity actually occurs indoors," Martin said. "That should be gotten off-Net quicker."

THERE are certain timeless truths about people who don't own a television, chief among them that they love to tell you they don't own a television. These days, they are still out there, but they have rivals in the realm of zealotry: people who do watch television -- sometimes plenty of it -- but don’'t own a cable box.