Charter Communications' proposed $34.5 billion purchase of Cox Communications, announced in May (see 2505160060), isn't expected to raise anticompetitive concerns at the FCC. If it faces headwinds from the agency, they are more likely to come from the companies' diversity, equity and inclusion policies, cable executives, agency watchers and others tell us. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has repeatedly said the agency won't approve acquisitions involving companies practicing "invidious forms of DEI discrimination" (see 2503210049), which Carr has defined as cases "where people are discriminating based on race and gender."

Prison-calling providers and the National Sheriffs’ Association supported the FCC’s request at the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the court hold the case in abeyance while the commission reconsiders rules approved last year. The Wireline Bureau recently delayed incarcerated people’s communications service (IPCS) deadlines until April 1, 2027 (see 2506300068).

California Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D) said her bill to require transmission of age-verification signals (AB-1043) “still is a very strong bill” after she accepted various proposed changes. At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, Chair Thomas Umberg (D) foreshadowed more adjustments could come in the weeks ahead.

The Rural Wireless Association will ask the full FCC to review an order passed by the Wireless Bureau's and Office of International Affairs' acting chiefs Friday approving T-Mobile’s purchase of wireless assets from UScellular (see 2507110045), the group said Monday in an emailed statement. But new Commissioner Olivia Trusty indicated her support for the three merger orders handed down last week, suggesting that Chairman Brendan Carr would likely have a majority for approval if he sought a commissioner vote.

The Court of International Trade's recent "dictum" on whether the Tariff Act of 1930 lets the Commerce Department impose antidumping duties and countervailing duties on an upstream product that's incorporated into a downstream product imported into the U.S. isn't relevant for adjudication of a pair of separate AD/CVD scope cases, the U.S. said (Wabtec Corporation v. U.S., CIT #s 23-00160, -00161).

The FCC could investigate public media stations for running ads against legislation that would rescind federal funding from NPR and PBS, said FCC Chairman Brendan Carr in a post on X Thursday night. Carr’s post came a little more than an hour after President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that he wouldn’t endorse Republican lawmakers who voted to support funding for PBS and NPR.

Colorado shouldn’t use upcoming kids’ privacy regulations as a “back door” to require age verification, retailers warned the state’s law department last week. In addition to warning against requiring verification through possible rules about a company’s “willful disregard” of a user being a minor, industry groups cautioned that any regulation of system design features mustn’t violate the First Amendment.

Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us Thursday she’s considering filing an amendment to the House-passed 2025 Rescissions Act (HR-4) that would strike its proposed clawback of $1.1 billion in advance FY 2026 and FY 2027 funding for CPB. Public broadcasting supporters and opponents were gearing up Thursday for a showdown over the rescissions bid ahead of a potential Tuesday initial vote to begin work on an expected revised version of the measure. Meanwhile, a pair of Senate Commerce Republicans who are also on the Appropriations Committee indicated that they're still negotiating to address their concerns about how CPB defunding could affect rural public broadcasters.

The California Privacy Protection Agency Board might act later this month on pending proceedings related to automated decision-making technology (ADMT) and establishing a data deletion mechanism.

Despite a modest fine, a settlement this week between Connecticut and online marketplace TicketNetwork over potential violations of the state's Data Privacy Act (CTDPA) (see 2507080010) includes significant takeaways, privacy professionals said. However, a consumer advocate said the $85,000 penalty -- the first under the CTDPA -- also shows how comprehensive privacy laws based on Connecticut's model don't do enough to protect consumers.