Supreme Court prospect Brett Kavanaugh has made a mark in communications law in 12 years as a U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit judge. In a dissent from a ruling affirming the FCC's 2015 net neutrality order, he argued the regulation lacked clear congressional authorization and violated the First Amendment. The agency shouldn't get Chevron deference on "major" rules and broadband ISP speech rights can't be restricted absent a market power showing, he wrote. He has also found programming rules violate cable operator speech rights, upheld partial telco forbearance relief decisions and ruled on many other FCC orders, giving him far more telecom and media legal experience than any other contender to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy (see 1806280018).
Supreme Court prospect Brett Kavanaugh has made a mark in communications law in 12 years as a U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit judge. In a dissent from a ruling affirming the FCC's 2015 net neutrality order, he argued the regulation lacked clear congressional authorization and violated the First Amendment. The agency shouldn't get Chevron deference on "major" rules and broadband ISP speech rights can't be restricted absent a market power showing, he wrote. He has also found programming rules violate cable operator speech rights, upheld partial telco forbearance relief decisions and ruled on many other FCC orders, giving him far more telecom and media legal experience than any other contender to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy (see 1806280018).
T-Mobile's buying Sprint is expected to face an uphill fight winning approval from regulators, despite what's seen as a positive Senate hearing last week with top executives from both companies, and AT&T’s win in federal court on AT&T/Time Warner. T-Mobile and Sprint have hired a small army of lawyers and former government officials to promote the deal.
The owner and manager of a New Orleans-based freight forwarder were recently arrested for their part in a conspiracy to fix prices for international freight forwarding services, the Justice Department said in a July 3 press release. A complaint unsealed June 29 in Eastern Louisiana U.S. District Court alleges Roberto Dip, owner and CEO of the unnamed forwarder, and Jason Handal, its manager, schemed with other forwarders to raise prices on their U.S. customers for shipments to Honduras and elsewhere, beginning with a meeting held in Honduras in 2014.
The Lifeline national verifier should be rolled out quickly with application programming interfaces sought by carriers, said a NARUC draft resolution released Tuesday. Other proposed telecom resolutions up for votes July 15-18 in Scottsdale, Arizona, relate to separations, IP captioned telephone service (IP CTS) and a precision agriculture bill pending in Congress.
The Lifeline national verifier should be rolled out quickly with application programming interfaces sought by carriers, said a NARUC draft resolution released Tuesday. Other proposed telecom resolutions up for votes July 15-18 in Scottsdale, Arizona, relate to separations, IP captioned telephone service (IP CTS) and a precision agriculture bill pending in Congress.
At our deadline, Amazon still hadn’t officially committed to a date for its annual Prime Day, traditionally held in July, but it’s readying new Amazon-branded products, typically the highest-selling products during the summer promotional event available only to Prime subscribers. Amazon began taking preorders Thursday for a new Fire HD 10 Kids Edition ($199) with a Full HD screen, 32 GB storage and 10-hour battery life, it said. The kids tablet offers tools for parents, including a dashboard, discussion cards and controls that allow them to manage time limits by activity, set educational goals, adjust age filters and set a bedtime for shutdown. It also includes one year of access to Amazon FreeTime Unlimited, which offers thousands of books, videos, educational apps, and games curated for age-appropriateness, plus access to websites and YouTube videos with parental control. Amazon also announced a software update for current Fire HD 8 and HD 10 tablets, called Show Mode, which provides full-screen visuals to complement voice responses from Alexa. A hardware complement to Show Mode is a charging dock for each tablet ($35, down from $39, for the Fire HD 8, and $49, down from $54, for the Fire HD 10) that acts as a viewing stand and charger. With Show Mode, users can ask Alexa to show them their calendar, video flash briefings, weather, movie trailers and camera feeds, said Amazon. The charging dock automatically switches the tablet into Show Mode, it said. A pre-Prime Day bundle offers the Show Mode Charging Dock with a Fire HD 8 tablet for $109, $10 savings; the HD 10 bundle is $189, for $15 savings. Show Mode rolls out July 2, and docks start shipping July 11, the date of last year’s Prime Day, it said. Leaked reports last week (see [Ref:1806220051]) pinned July 17 as Prime Day, with specials beginning the previous day. An Amazon spokeswoman confirmed in an email that Prime Day will return this year but didn’t confirm the July 17 date or provide other details. Amazon said in April it was raising the annual Prime membership fee 20 percent to $119 (see 1804270070).
Senate GOP leaders are aiming to confirm FCC nominee Geoffrey Starks and Commissioner Brendan Carr to a second full term this week via unanimous consent, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters Wednesday. The committee advanced Starks' nomination on a voice vote. Senate confirmation of Starks this week is seen possible, in line with expectations Thune was aiming to fast-track the nominee (see 1806200055). Starks would succeed former Mignon Clyburn, who left the commission earlier this month (see 1806070041). Starks would have a term ending in 2022, and Carr's additional five-year term would end in 2023.
Senate GOP leaders are aiming to confirm FCC nominee Geoffrey Starks and Commissioner Brendan Carr to a second full term this week via unanimous consent, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters Wednesday. The committee advanced Starks' nomination on a voice vote. Senate confirmation of Starks this week is seen possible, in line with expectations Thune was aiming to fast-track the nominee (see 1806200055). Starks would succeed former Mignon Clyburn, who left the commission earlier this month (see 1806070041). Starks would have a term ending in 2022, and Carr's additional five-year term would end in 2023.
The full FCC denied Edward Stolz and Deborah Naiman’s application for review of Media Bureau approval of Entercom buying CBS Radio, said an order Tuesday. The appeal is part of a long effort by Stolz to overturn the deal; the Office of General Counsel has called his filings “repetitious” (see 1805090040). Stolz’s argument on CBS TV stations distorted news is “unadjudicated” and “unsubstantiated,” the order said, and there’s no presumption that an act by one CBS TV station would indicate misconduct at the company or its other stations, the order said. Stolz identifies no "facts that raise questions about CBS’s qualifications to hold the radio station licenses that are the subject of the proposed transfer of control,” the order said.