August 2018

The Federal Communications Commission has filed a document with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia that could help the Trump Administration's challenge of a DC district judge's decision to allow the merger of AT&T/Time Warner, which closed back in June.  That includes the current, Republican-led FCC emphasizing the previous Democratic-led FCC's conclusion that the Comcast/NBCU transaction would increase bargaining leverage and raise prices of programming to rival distributors—hence the conditions applied on that deal.

On March 21, 2018, Sens Tom Udall (D-NM), Tina Smith (D-NM), and Maria Cantwell (D-WA), and Rep Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission expressing concern over the FCC's report and order"wireless infrastructure streamlining" and asked the FCC to delay finalizing the rule, "until a truly meaningful consultation with Indian Tribes occurs." On Aug 3, Chairman Pai responded, saying that in developing the new rules, the Commission engaged extensively with tribal nations, inter-tribal organizations, and state and local historic preservation officers.