Broadcasting&Cable

The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and US Chamber of Commerce are standing strongly behind the Federal Communications Commission's deregulation of internet access in the 2017 Restoring Internet Freedom Order.

Add Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) to the lengthening list of lawmakers who want answers from Google about the Google+ data vulnerability it chose not to tell its users about. Sen Grassley wants the company to explain how it is protecting personal info given that the "glitches" apparently went unaddressed for three years. Sen Grassley invited Google to join Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at an April 10 hearing on data privacy and social media, but he says Google declined because it said it didn’t have the same data privacy issues as Facebook had.

The Federal Communications Commission’s lone administrative law judge has still not weighed in as to whether he will shut down the designated hearing on allegations that Sinclair Broadcast Group misled the agency about its proposed $3.9 billion purchase of Tribune Media, leaving that serious “lack of candor” charge hanging over the company. It has been more than 10 weeks since the FCC unanimously voted to refer the deal to Judge Richard Sippel, signaling it had issues with how Sinclair represented the spinoff stations in the deal.

At the Senate antitrust subcommittee hearing on Oct 3, Department of Justice antitrust chief Makan Delrahim teased that the DOJ is wrapping up what it bills as a first-ever criminal case against the anticompetitive use of search algorithms in a "price-fixing scheme." Sen Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) asked about search algorithms used by companies "like Google or Yelp!" that use algorithms that can have "profound market effects," like disadvantaging less tech-savvy small businesses by "guiding users away from the best option at the cheapest price." He asked what resources Delrahim had to scruti