Universal Broadband—Brookings Forum Slams FCC Authority, Regulations

It’s safe to say that panelists at Brookings Institute’s forum on universal broadband Tues aren’t big fans of some of the FCC’s regulations and authority, especially merger review. It’s time to take away the agency’s merger review authority because it’s unnecessarily “duplicative,” said Michael Powell, head of NCTA. Powell, who was chmn of the Commission from ’01 to ’05, said his experience with mergers at the FCC demonstrated that the Justice Department and FTC are better equipped for such reviews. Read on for comments from Hal Singer, managing dir and principal of Navigant Economics, AT&T svp Jim Cicconi and others on the topic of limiting FCC regulation.

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DISH subs lost Northwest Broadcasting’s Fox stations in Spokane and Yakima, WA; Medford, OR; and Binghamton, NY, Mon evening after months of retrans negotiations broke down. Here’s why this could be a long one.

 

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At last, FCC Democratic commish Mignon Clyburn will get her re-nomination hearing.