Multichannel News

ITTA-The Voice of America's Broadband Providers "will be shutting its doors effective January 31, 2020 after over a one-quarter century representing wireline communications service providers in Washington." ITTA cited "financial constraints in the wireline service provider sector" for shutting its doors, saying those financial challenges had been "insurmountable." Broadband providers still have a voice via ACA Connects, which represents smaller and midsized providers, NCTA-The Internet & Television Association, NTCCA-The Rural Broadband Association, USTelecom, CTIA and others. 

The House Communications Subcommittee was in agreement that more needed to be done to boost minority media ownership, but Republican members focused more on what they said broadcasters and cable operators were already doing to address the issue. The hearing, "Lifting Voices: Legislation to Promote Media Marketplace Diversity", looked at various bipartisan bills to promote more diversity data collection and analysis at the Federal Communications Commission and provide more access to capital. 

The House has passed three bipartisan 5G bills, which passed out of the House Commerce Committee in Nov. The bills are primarily about considering and strategizing and encouraging, rather than commanding, which helped them get that bipartisan support. It is likely the bills will get Senate approval and President Donald Trump's signature. 

The House Consumer Protection Subcommittee held a hearing "Americans at Risk: Manipulation and Deception in the Digital Age" to look at deep fakes and online manipulation. Subcommittee Chairman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) used the informational hearing to hammer Big Tech and Facebook in particular. She said that Big Tech had failed to respond to the "grave threat" of deep fakes, dark patterns, bots, and other technologies that are hurting the public in direct and indirect ways.

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Joseph Simons said that the FTC was still investigating Facebook for antitrust violations, and that the FTC's $5 billion settlement with the company is the thing he is most proud of over the past year. The other was the $170 million settlement with Google/YouTube over kids privacy. Chairman Simons renewed his call for Congress to pass comprehensive privacy legislation, but does not favor a Democrat-backed proposal to create a new, separate, privacy enforcement agency.

AT&T has set an ambitious agenda to gain 50% market share within three years in the regions where it has launched fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) service. “We have proof of how we do this historically,” said Jeffrey McElfresh. “As you look at the fiber that we built out in the ground in 2016, at the three-year mark, we roughly approach about a 50% share gain in that territory.