Broadcasting&Cable

Network neutrality activists have gotten together to fight the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, saying he would put the wishes of big cable and big telecom over the interests of the public. Free Press, Public Knowledge, Fight for the Future, Demand Progress and 20 others have sent a letter to the Senate in opposition. His Senate nomination hearings--in the Judiciary Committee--are scheduled to begin Sept 4, although Democrats are trying to delay them, partly in hopes of regaining the Senate and blocking the nomination themselves. 

The Broadcasting Board of Governors has updated its brand. The board, which oversees government-backed international programming services including the Voice of America, is now the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM). The reboot is meant to convey that the digital age agency now extends far beyond TV and radio to include digital and mobile platforms.  The agency is headed by John Lansing as CEO.  "The term 'broadcasting' does not accurately describe what we do," said Lansing.

The News Media Alliance has told the Federal Trade Commission that it needs to take action to "rein in tech giants' anticompetitive conduct." That came in comments to the agency in advance of a planned series of public hearings over the next six months or so on competition and consumer protection policy in the digital age. It told the FTC that the Googles and Facebooks of the world did not get to be dominant in distribution and monetization on their merits alone.

According to testimony and documents provided by the fire chief of Santa Clara County, one of the CA counties fighting the largest wildfire in the state's history, throttling of its Internet speeds per a lower-priced Verizon data plan had a significant impact the department's ability to provide emergency and potentially life-saving services. The documents came in the legal challenge to the Federal Communications Commission's lifting of regulations against online blocking, throttling and paid prioritization.

House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ) has asked Federal Communications Commission Inspector General David Hunt to investigate what he said was FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's failure to disclose a conversation he had with White House General Counsel Don McGahn about the Sinclair-Tribune merger, suggesting it could have been a "coverup." Ranking Member Pallone is wondering why Chairman Pai did not disclose the conversation during an earlier House FCC oversight hearing.

Key leadership of the Federal Communications Commission's Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment (ACDDE) have a big problem with the way the FCC has structured the new diversity incubator program they otherwise support, a problem they say could "destroy" the program. That warning came in a call the week of Aug 13 between committee members James Winston and David Honig and Matthew Berry, chief of staff to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.