Ownership

ABC abruptly canceled “Roseanne” hours after Roseanne Barr, the show’s star and co-creator, posted a racist tweet about Valerie Jarrett, an African-American woman who was a senior adviser to Barack Obama throughout his presidency and considered one of his most influential aides. Barr wrote if the “muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj." Barr later apologized, but it was too late.

Some high-profile broadcast groups have been telling the Federal Communications Commission they would be OK with moving the 39% national ownership cap to 50% from 39%, rather than eliminating it altogether.  In filings at the FCC, Hearst Television, Scripps Media, Raycom Media, Gray Television, Graham Media, Quincy Media, Dispatch Broadcast Group and Morgan Murphy Media told the FCC they can support both a cap at 50% and eliminating the UHF discount for future broadcast groups, so long as current groups that would be over that 50% cap without the discount are grandfathered.  They say that "

Pirate TV boxes that falsely display the Federal Communications Commission logo should be removed from Amazon and eBay, said FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly.  Commissioner O'Rielly wrote a letter to the Amazon and eBay CEOs asking them to crack down on set-top boxes that violate FCC rules. Amazon quickly responded, saying that it already takes steps to prevent sale of these products but that it is willing to step up enforcement if any such devices are still for sale on Amazon.

The seemingly endless review of the proposed Sinclair Broadcast Group-Tribune Media merger doesn’t show signs of being wrapped up anytime soon. And that’s fine with the cable and satellite operators opposed to the deal, who are looking to block it, and maybe also get some help from a federal court in the effort.

T-Mobile is getting advice from Corey Lewandowski, the former campaign manager for President Donald Trump, as part of a lobbying effort to help the telecommunications company secure federal approval for its proposed takeover of Sprint. T-Mobile said it hired Turnberry Solutions in August. “Corey Lewandowski is now affiliated with that firm and they have offered perspective to T-Mobile on a variety of topics, including the pending transaction,” the company said. According to documents,  Lewandowski receives a cut of the fees paid to the lobbying firm on the T-Mobile contract.

Some observers note a decline in competition in American industry; fewer new firms are entering the market, and markets are becoming more concentrated. Federal and state agencies can devise regulations to catalyze competition. Federal and state agencies can use different types of rules to spur competition, including deregulation, which removes rules that discourage new firms, or switching price rules, which makes it easier for consumers to try a new service provider (such as the rule that phone customers can keep their phone number when changing service providers).

This paper recommends that dominant online platforms be required to provide their users with “due process,” that is, procedural protections that ensure fairness, when the platforms wish to take an action that may be detrimental to the user. It argues that the principles of due process are a way to ensure that individuals are treated fairly by large institutions -- whether they are public or private. It recommends a robust set of procedural protections adopted from leading legal scholars and proposes a way of determining "dominance" that is informed by the history of communications law.

Seattle (WA) levied an annual tax of about $50 million on big companies recently to help solve the city's homeless problem. The tax was watered down from the original proposal but it was controversial and pitted the city against its most powerful corporate resident, Amazon.com. Now the action moves to Silicon Valley and the Bay Area.

Let’s remember that the core notion of democracy underlying antitrust is the value of individual opportunity, free from the workings of political or economic power. Individual choice in democratic elections and individual choice in competitive markets share an intellectual legacy. These democratic roots of antitrust are best served by upholding the ability of antitrust enforcement to carry out its duties free from the jousting and scuffling of day-to-day politics.

Comcast plans to outbid Disney for Fox’s movie and TV studios, its cable networks and its stake in Hulu, as Comcast announced today it’s in “advanced stages of preparing an offer.” Murdoch, who heads Fox, already turned down a proposal from Comcast late last year in favor of Disney, despite Comcast’s bid that was 16 percent higher.  Now that it’s out in the open, a bidding war is sure to ensue, and Comcast and Disney will offer their respective spins. Here’s what to expect: