Telecom and tech continued responding Monday to COVID-19 with actions that included moving to telework and canceling or postponing events, or moving them virtual.
President Donald Trump violated the First Amendment in 2017 when he blocked users from his Twitter account, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Monday (see 1806050068). The court denied the administration’s request for an en banc rehearing before the full panel in Knight v. Trump. Instead, the 2nd Circuit reaffirmed a prior, unanimous decision.
The FCC is unlikely to take additional actions soon mandating tougher rules for the vertical location accuracy of wireless calls to 911, said industry and public safety officials. Replies are posted through Monday in docket 07-114. In November, commissioners approved rules requiring carriers provide height above ellipsoid data from wireless calls to 911, within 3 meters accuracy for 80 percent of calls, starting in the largest markets in April 2021. Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel voted no (see 1911220034).
Comcast's victory Monday in a Supreme Court decision on what legal standard must be met in a complaint that the cable operator was racially discriminatory in what programming it doesn't carry (see 2003230006) may not signal a quick end to the legal fight. University of Connecticut employment law professor Sachin Pandya, who was part of an amicus brief on behalf of Entertainment Studios Network (ESN) suing Comcast, said the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals conceivably could still decide that the case being remanded from SCOTUS plausibly survives the MVPD's motion to dismiss even under the standard SCOTUS requires. Oral argument was in November (see 1911130024).
Negotiations dragged on Monday on a third economic stimulus bill addressing the effects of COVID-19, with congressional lawmakers having yet to reach a bipartisan deal. A second bid for the Senate to invoke cloture on the legislative vehicle for the hoped-for compromise measure (HR-748) failed on a 49-46 vote amid continued Democratic objections to the current contours of a legislative proposal that has GOP buy-in. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was circulating her Take Responsibility for Workers and Families Act counterproposal, which includes pandemic-specific Lifeline and distance learning funding.
The “math just doesn’t work” for movie studios and streaming video services to make a rapid shift to a direct-to-video model during the COVID-19 outbreak when millions of viewers are captive at home, said LightShed Partners analyst Rich Greenfield Wednesday on a webcast. Greenfield was commenting on the possibility of first-run movies debuting on subscription VOD streaming services at a time when U.S. movie theaters are closed.
Telecom and tech continued responding Friday to COVID-19 with actions including moving to telework and canceling or postponing events, or moving them virtual.
States are scrambling to enact price gouging laws in response to online sellers taking advantage of COVID-19 demands. Maryland passed an emergency measure Wednesday, and plans are evolving in Minnesota. Arkansas passed an emergency measure earlier this month.
NAB won’t try resurrecting its COVID-19-canceled Las Vegas show in 2020 but will stage a virtual event called “NAB Show Express,” said CEO Gordon Smith Friday. Nine days earlier, NAB Show organizers said they were "weighing the best potential path forward," including possibly rescheduling the April 18-22 event later in the year (see 2003110036).
Passing 5G and other state telecom bills may be less likely as lawmakers respond to the COVID-19 outbreak, local and industry officials told us last week. One seeming casualty is an industry-backed section in the New York budget to streamline small-cells deployment by pre-empting local governments. Alabama’s small-cells bill is close to the finish line and may pass this spring, said Alabama League of Municipalities Deputy Director Greg Cochran.