Stories related to: FCC

The Federal Communications Commission will try again to sell broadband spectrum space intended to include a national network for emergency workers, Ars Technica reports.The D Block failed to garner the required minimum bid from commercial interests during a recent auction after negotiations became bogged down. Said one commissioner: "We’re going to need all the help we can get." More »

A longtime local anchor in New York got her viewers' undivided attention during a promo last night when she said the F-word live, the New York Daily News reports. After the wrong video played as she teased the upcoming news during Medium, 28-year WNBC veteran Sue Simmons said, "What the f--- are you doing?" More »

Wilmington, NC, will be a test market for the switchover to all-digital television, the Wall Street Journal reports. The US as a whole is to change from analog signals by Feb. 17, but Wilmington could flip by Sept. 8 as broadcasters and the Federal Communications Commissions worry over how the process will play out. More »

XM and Sirius both postponed annual shareholder meetings as they awaited final FCC approval of their planned merger, the Washington Post reports. The nation’s only satellite-radio operators are expected to win approval, but their plans have faced new criticism from lawmakers and state attorneys, and there may yet be conditions on the partnership. More »

Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman has matched Rupert Murdoch's bid for Newsday , the New York Times reports—but didn't go a penny over the $580 million the New York Post owner offered. Instead Zuckerman claimed his bid is the better one because, unlike Murdoch's, it doesn't run the risk of running into an FCC tripwire. More »

Rupert Murdoch is betting new federal standards limiting media ownership to one TV station and one newspaper (per market) won't keep him from buying a fifth New York outlet. The mogul has long held waivers to control media in excess of the rules, and he doesn't think recent enforcement pledges will stop him from winning permission to own Newsday , the Times reports. More »

Republican lawmakers are charging that Google manipulated an FCC bandwidth auction to get a free ride on the airwaves, PC World reports. The internet giant is accused of bidding purely to bump up the price to a level where rules trigger open access—and then walking away, leaving Verizon to win the auction. The auction of 700MHz spectrums raised less than had been expected. More »

Verizon and AT&T are talking big about recent bandwidth acquisitions at an FCC auction, the Washington Post reports. The companies promised fast, high-tech new networks in the next few years based on long-range frequencies, newly available from television broadcasters, that can penetrate deep into buildings. A Verizon spokesman said the company hoped to connect “anything and everything together,” Reuters reports. More »

The Justice Department has stepped in to force Fox to pay up $56,000 in indecency fines levied by the FCC but challenged by the broadcaster, Variety reports. Eight Fox-owned stations are being sued to collect fines for a 2003 episode of "Married by America" that featured men at a bachelor party licking whipped cream off topless strippers. More »

Google nearly became the unenthused owner of a $4.71 billion slice of wireless airwaves in a recent Federal Communications Commission auction, the New York Times reports. Its bid was part of a deal with the FCC to open some spectrum to third-party services, but for much of the bidding, Google had the top price—until Verizon swooped in with the $4.74 billion winner. More »

The head of the FCC has rejected a request from Skype to open up wireless networks to outside devices, AP reports. The Internet phone provider wanted wireless operations included in a 1968 FCC decision that required AT&T to open up its network beyond its own devices that paved the way for the introduction of things like fax machines and modems. More »

Comcast is changing the way it manages Internet traffic after an intense public and FCC outcry over its blocking traffic from BitTorrent users. To cut use during peak hours, the Internet provider will stop targeting specific applications and instead slow its highest-bandwidth users’ traffic, reports the New York Times . Still, the FCC promised to continue scrutinizing the company. More »

As Verizon rolls out its subscription-TV service, the company has asked the FCC to make the switch from cable easier for consumers, the Washington Post reports. In its petition, Verizon asked for the authority to shut off its customers’ cable services on their behalf, arguing that the switchover process is “cumbersome” for customers who must do it themselves. More »

Think strippers and whipped cream is indecent? Pshaw, says Fox, which wants the FCC to drop a $91,000 indecency fine for a 2003 episode of “Married by America” in which contestants at rowdy parties licked whipped cream off topless strippers. The network originally was fined $1.2 million, reports Bloomberg, but the FCC decided to impose $7,000 fines only on the 13 stations that received complaints. More »

Google is re-doubling its efforts to get the FCC to allow the development of unused space in the TV spectrum for wireless Internet service, the Wall Street Journal reports. "The vast majority of viable spectrum in this country simply goes unused," the tech giant wrote to the commission. "There is no benefit to allowing this spectrum to lie fallow." TV broadcasters, fearful of interference, oppose the co-opting of the white space. More »

The Justice Department today approved the proposed merger between satellite radio firms Sirius and XM, the Wall Street Journal r eports. The FCC must still sign off, but the pair appears to have allayed antitrust concerns about the merger of the industry's two largest companies by arguing that they face competition from all music providers, including conventional radio. More »

AT&T and Verizon were the two top bidders in the airwaves auction that ended this week, representing 80% of the FCC’s record $19.6 billion haul and positioning themselves to offer advanced wireless Internet services, reports the Wall Street Journal. Google, sans licenses, was another winner, gaining open access to a chunk of spectrum that mostly went to Verizon. More »

The FCC earned a record $19.6 billion auctioning soon-to-be-available airwaves to wireless network providers, the Wall Street Journal reports after months of bidding closed yesterday. While the auction exceeded the $15 billion the agency expected, it could have earned still more if it hadn’t placed restrictions on certain blocks of frequencies, critics say. More »

The Supreme Court might take up a gavel in one hand and a bar of soap in the other next term, when it considers a case challenging the FCC’s “fleeting utterances” standards, it announced today. The FCC is appealing a lower-court ruling—which arose when Cher dropped an F-bomb during a 2002 Fox broadcast—that it has failed to “articulate a reasoned basis” for the rules. More »

A month after Microsoft failed its second opportunity to convince the FCC that companies could deliver broadband Internet via unused TV frequencies without interfering with programming, Bill Gates pushed regulators Thursday to approve the plan, Reuters reports. He said “white space” between channels could allow WiFi to “explode” into less densely populated areas of the US. More »