Ownership

Cheap wireless plans might be harder to find in 2018. The two most aggressive US wireless carriers, Sprint Corp and T-Mobile US Inc,  are signaling they will scale back discounting this year after a failed attempt to combine their businesses. Sprint, the No. 4 carrier by subscribers, said that it would only chase new customers it considers profitable. No.

A year after Mediacom paid an undisclosed sum to take over the cable system in Andalusia (AL) the town’s mayor is warning the operator that if he continues to hear complaints, Andalusia will shop for a municipal broadband provider. “For the entire time that I have been mayor, I have not received as many complaints about anything as I have received about the cable and broadband service from Mediacom,” said Andalusia Mayor Earl Johnson. “Whatever it is that they’re doing here, they need to make some changes.”

Sinclair Broadcast Group has extended the deadline for the Justice Department’s decision regarding its proposed $3.9 billion acquisition of Tribune Media. In an SEC filing, Sinclair and Tribune said that they had agreed to not consummate the merger before Jan. 30, 2018, but now that deadline has been moved to Feb. 11, 2018. Tribune and Sinclair also agreed to provide 10 days’ notice to the DOJ before closing the merger.

The Federal Communications Commission's quest to prove that killing network neutrality is somehow raising broadband investment recently focused on Charter Communications. Charter, the second largest US cable company after Comcast, "is investing more in its broadband network and workforce because of the FCC's Restoring Internet Freedom Order [that repealed net neutrality rules] and last year's tax reform legislation," FCC Chief of Staff Matthew Berry claimed in a tweet Feb 8. But Charter raised its capital investment in 2017 while the net neutrality rules were in place.

Tech industry critics spent a daylong event on Capitol Hill Feb 7 airing concerns that Facebook, Google, Apple and other major companies are peddling addictive products that damage young minds. Critics are seeking some sort of policy to address the problem. “Should there be some common sense regulation of the tech industry? Obviously,” said Jim Steyer, the head of Common Sense, the group that organized the conference. Franklin Foer, the author of a recent book critical of tech powerhouses, said that a “sense of shame” would shift norms in the industry.

Patrick Soon-Shiong has finally won his hometown prize. After a number of years of trying to buy his local paper, Los Angeles’ richest billionaire has seized an unpredictable opportunity.   In a move that’s shocking but not really surprising, 65-year-old Soon-Shiong will pay a chunk of his estimated $7 billion-plus fortune to finally split with his erstwhile partner in Troncdom, chairman Michael Ferro.

The Knight Foundation announced that it is boosting local TV news with $2.6 million across five organizations that will help students of color gain experience in local TV markets, bring together broadcast journalists focused on digital innovation in conferences and workshops, and offer ethics, leadership, and data journalism training for newsrooms. The grantees are:

[Commentary] Until recently, it was unthinkable that newspapers would become major recipients of charitable subsidies. But as newsroom layoffs continue with no apparent end, increasingly they are seeking philanthropic support, and the nonprofit world is delivering.

The Los Angeles Times was sold to Patrick Soon-Shiong, a health care mogul and former surgeon, for $500 million. The deal includes The Times’s sibling paper, The San Diego Union-Tribune, and smaller publications in the California News Group. The deal, with Dr.

The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has denied a petition from Prometheus Radio Project that it effectively stay the Federal Communications Commission's November vote to deregulate local broadcast ownership.  The court suggested the jury was still out on the FCC's response to the court's direction on ownership diversity and that Prometheus did not make a case for direct action from the court.