After a long pre-season in which little else happened other than setting a schedule and format for briefing, August 20, 2018 was Opening Day for the litigation appealing the Federal Communications Commission’s December 2017 network neutrality decision. Two groups of challengers (technically referred to as “petitioners”) filed their briefs Monday evening in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Amid roiling debates about the impact of screen time on teenagers, roughly half of those ages 13 to 17 are themselves worried they spend too much time on their cellphones. Some 52% of US teens report taking steps to cut back on their mobile phone use, and similar shares have tried to limit their use of social media (57%) or video games (58%), a new Pew Research Center survey finds. Fully 72% of teens say they often or sometimes check for messages or notifications as soon as they wake up, while roughly four-in-ten say they feel anxious when they do not have their cellphone with them.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai will deliver the keynote address for the Maine Heritage Policy Center, a conservative research organization, at a fundraising luncheon in September. The center noted Chairman Pai's controversial role in ending the FCC’s net neutrality regulations and touted his efforts to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse in federal programs. Chairman Pai will attend the center’s 2018 Freedom & Opportunity Luncheon. “The FCC Chairman’s regulatory philosophy is informed by a few simple principles, competition paramount among them,” the center stated.
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai addressed barriers to high-speed connectivity in western Colorado and stuck to his post-network neutrality guns during a visit to St. Mary's Medical Center. Chairman Pai held a closed-door meeting with hospital leaders as part of a national tour to discuss how his agency relates to technology needed by rural hospitals that want to embrace telemedicine. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Pai said, from the FCC's viewpoint, connectivity remains the biggest hurdle to a serious move toward widespread use of telemedicine.
White House Counsel Don McGahn’s July 17 call to Federal Communication Commission Chairman Ajit Pai over the decision to send the $3.9 billion merger between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Tribune Media to an administrative law judge wasn’t improper, Chairman Pai said: “It was pretty unusual, and it was the first time we got a status inquiry of that kind.” Chairman Pai, when asked if McGahn’s call was improper, said, “Oh, not at all. It was just a big old status inquiry.”
Smaller cable operators don't have the incentive or ability to act anticompetitively toward either their customers or edge providers. That came in American Cable Association comments to the Federal Trade Commission as it tees up month-long hearings on protecting consumers and competition in a digital age. ACA said smaller operators provide vital connectivity, particularly in the rural areas the government is focused on bringing into that digital age as full participants.
© 1994-2026 Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. All Rights Reserved.
