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A Q&A with Free Press CEO Craig Aaron.

The Federal Communications Commission is set to vote to relax a longstanding ban that prevents one company from owning radio and television stations and newspapers in the same city — a move that activists are calling a giant Christmas present to Rupert Murdoch. The media titan has floated the idea of buying The Chicago Tribune and The Los Angeles Times, the dominant papers in cities where he already owns TV stations. What’s worse, the FCC is operating behind closed doors, rather than inviting public comment on the issue. Aaron is asking people to speak out — by signing a petition, writing an editorial and calling congressmen. Aaron and his organization have been among those leading the charge against increased media monopolization. Similar attempts to change ownership rules were thwarted in 2003 and 2007.

1. The board of directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) awarded Newton N. Minow, former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and one of the founding fathers of public broadcasting, with its Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognizes outstanding individual contributions to public media. Minow was honored for transforming the landscape of American television in the 1960s by putting the concepts of public interest and public service at the forefront of this emerging medium and by encouraging the spread of educational television, known today as public television, across the country.
2. CPB announced the first Community Lifeline Awards recognizing public media stations that provide exemplary service to their communities during local emergencies, such as natural disasters, major industrial accidents, acts of terrorism or other urgent situations. WNET and WNYC/NJPR each received the award for serving as important lifelines to the citizens of New York and New Jersey leading up to and in the weeks following Hurricane Sandy. The stations provided extensive live coverage on storm preparedness, weather and flood bulletins, status updates about restoration of power and other services, and in-depth information regarding emergency resources and recovery assistance across multiple platforms including television and radio broadcasts, social media and online.
3. Finally, the CPB board resented Rebecca Eaton, executive producer of Masterpiece, with the Ralph Lowell Award, the most prestigious public media award honoring an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to public television. Eaton, who has been executive producer of Masterpiece for more than 26 of its 41 years on the air, was recognized for ensuring the series upholds a high standard of excellence, not just for public media but for American television as a whole. She has produced some of the highest quality television dramas, including the break-out hit Downton Abbey, which was watched by more than 17 million people, and has increased the audience for the celebrated series through her collaborations with A-list talent and producers. Under Eaton’s leadership, Masterpiece has collected 65 Emmy Awards, 18 Peabody Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and dozens of industry awards.

A federal court rejected Verizon's challenge to the Federal Communications Commission's data roaming rules, an important victory for the commission as it looks to fend off a series of lawsuits that would curb its regulatory power over Internet services.

In a unanimous decision, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said that the data roaming requirements fall under the FCC's "broad authority" to manage the airwaves. The FCC has long required that cellphone service providers offer reasonable voice roaming terms to their competitors. Roaming occurs when subscribers travel beyond their own carrier's network and use another company's cell towers to complete a call. The FCC adopted an order last year that expanded those roaming rules to cover wireless Internet service. Verizon sued, claiming that the FCC overstepped its authority under the Communications Act. Verizon said the rules represented an "unprecedented and unbounded theory of regulatory power over wireless Internet service." But the court ruled that Title III of the Communications Act "plainly empowers" the FCC to expand its roaming rules to cover data. The court also rejected Verizon's claim that the rules treat cellphone carriers as "common carriers," which is prohibited under the Communications Act.

Cliffhangers may have been around for more than a thousand years — since at least the composition of “One Thousand and One Nights” — but no one has monetized them as brilliantly as cable networks.

In order to get paid, Charles Dickens had to sell the next chapter of his serialized novels; in order to sell advertising, ABC had to order more episodes of its hit show “Lost.” But for the next several months, AMC is converting our eagerness to see “Breaking Bad” into millions of dollars without showing a single new episode. Cable TV has developed one of the most clever business models in our modern economy. Until recently, AMC was a basic-cable backwater known for “Three Stooges” marathons. But a few years ago, it tweaked its business and began offering two or three hours of original programming on a few dozen nights a year. Starting with “Mad Men” in 2007, the network landed hit shows that developed small but obsessive followings. Soon after, it began making larger financial demands of the cable and satellite providers, like Comcast and DirectTV, that carry the network. AMC now charges these providers about 40 cents a month for each subscriber, including the millions who will never watch “Mad Men” or “Breaking Bad.” These providers can refuse to pay up, but doing so would infuriate legions of vocal viewers. AMC collects $30 million a month in fees alone on a base of 80 million subscribers, which is pretty good considering that the last episode of “Breaking Bad” had fewer than three million viewers. This business model, perhaps as much as artistic creativity, is responsible for TV’s current golden age.