Comcast to Pay $800K to Resolve FCC Probe
June, 27, 2012 4:11 pm | Comments On #Comcast, FCC, internet, Media, NBCUniversalComcast has agreed to pay an $800,000 fine and continue offering a standalone, affordably priced broadband service through at least Feb. 15, 2015 under a consent decree with the FCC, the agency said Wednesday.
Under the terms of the decree, the requirement -- which was originally included as a condition on FCC approval of Comcast’s acquisition of NBCUniversal last year -- has been extended by one year. The condition requires Comcast to provide a standalone broadband service with a download speed of at least 6 mbps for no more than $49.95 a month.
In a news release, the FCC said the agency investigated Comcast after receiving “information suggesting that Comcast was not adequately marketing its standalone broadband services.”
“Today’s action demonstrates that compliance with commission orders is not optional,” FCC Chairman...
Read MoreDon't Let Cable Broadband Plans Undercut Streaming Services, House Panel Told
June, 27, 2012 3:17 pm | Comments On #cable, cable TV, NCTA, Netflix, Television, video streamingFederal lawmakers should ensure that new broadband pricing schemes being rolled out by the cable TV industry aren’t used to discriminate against video streaming services, critics said Wednesday.
“There’s only one way to get Internet video and that is over an Internet pipe, and there are very few carriers that provide Internet video in some areas,” said David Hyman, general counsel of Netflix, the streaming video giant, during a hearing before the House Communications and Technology subcommittee.
“In some places there is only one carrier, and the ability to have competition in the marketplace is something you guys should be mindful of,” Hyman told the lawmakers.
Also read: ...
Read MoreSupreme Court Knocks Down FCC Indecency Rules in Fox Case, Ducks First Amendment Question
June, 21, 2012 8:00 am | Comments On #bono, Cher, expletives, Supreme Court, Television, U2The Supreme Court on Thursday vacated key FCC enforcement actions based on "fleeting expletives" and brief nudity, saying the commission had not given networks adequate notice of changes in its policies.
The broadcasters could not have known in advance about the fleeting expletives and nudity and that they would give rise to sanctions, the court said.
It did allow that the FCC is free to address its policy, thus avoiding the question of whether the rules were allowable under the First Amendment.
The vote was 8-0, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor recusing herself because as an appeals court judge, she heard the case before it went to the Supreme Court.
The case -- FCC vs. Fox Television Stations -- was the result of challenges from Fox TV and other broadcasters to the FCC’s decision in 2004 to adopt a stricter standard regulating off-color...
Read MoreTeam Obama Rallies Young Hollywood for (Yet Another) Celebrity Fund-Raiser
June, 20, 2012 4:56 pm | Comments On #david fincher, Movies, politics, President ObamaBarack Obama’s reelection team is once again enlisting help from Hollywood to keep the incumbent president in office for a second term.
This time, POTUS is seeing some positive returns on his recent efforts to cultivate ties with younger entertainers, as a group of stars from the under-40 set (or favored by that demographic) are banding together for a June 29 fund-raiser in Los Angeles.
The event will be spearheaded by a lineup of industry players – including directors David Fincher and Darren Aronofsky; actors Zach Braff, Ian Somerhalder, Zachary Quinto and Maria Bello; and musicians Pete Wentz, Kenna and Peter Frampton -- according to the...
Read MoreSenators to Supreme Court: Televise the Obamacare Hearings
June, 19, 2012 12:34 pm | Comments On #health care, Obamacare, Supreme Court, Television
Senate leaders are urging the Supreme Court to shatter precedent by allowing live TV coverage of the high court’s anticipated ruling on the constitutionality of the Obama administration’s health-care reform package.
But media industry representatives aren’t holding their breath waiting for the high court to lift its historic ban on live coverage.
“They (the Supreme Court justices) just don’t like the idea of cameras at all,” Gregg Leslie, legal defense director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, told TheWrap on Tuesday.
In a letter Monday to Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, asked the chief justice to open the high court to live television coverage for the Obamacare case.
“We believe that the issues in the case are...
Read MoreStudy: Broadcast-Only Viewership Jumps 17.4%
June, 18, 2012 4:59 pm | Comments On #broadcast, cable, Media, TelevisionThe number of viewers getting their broadcast signals exclusively over the air is up 17.4% to a total of 53.8 million since last year, according to a study released on Monday.
That means that 17.8% of U.S. TV households, or 20.7 million, now rely on over-the-air reception to view broadcast TV signals, said the study by GfK Media.
In addition, 6% of U.S. TV homes, or 6.9 million, have now canceled pay-TV service. The vast majority, or more than 70%, cited cost-cutting as their motivation for pulling the pay-TV plug, while 20% cited the availability of online viewing options, said David Tice, a GfK Media senior vice president, in a blog about the study.
"The real test will be when -- or if -- the...
Read MoreAnna Wintour, Sarah Jessica Parker Welcome the Well-Heeled to NYC Obama Fund-Raiser (Updated)
June, 14, 2012 4:46 pm | Comments On #Anna Wintour, Media, Meryl Streep, Movies, Sarah Jessica ParkerIn another show of camaraderie with luminaries from the top echelons of entertainment and fashion, President and First Lady Michelle Obama joined Sarah Jessica Parker and her co-host, Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, to raise money and morale for Obama’s last White House run.
The price for entry to the hot-ticket soirée for 50 guests, held at Parker's Manhattan home Thursday night, was definitely in haute couture territory, ringing in at $40,000 per person.
Also read: Sarah Jessica Parker Hosting Obamas at ‘...
Read MoreWatchdog Groups Love Justice Dept.'s Data-Cap Probe - Cable Industry, Not So Much
June, 13, 2012 10:14 am | Comments On #Media
A Justice Department antitrust investigation into whether cable companies are unfairly discriminating against online-video providers is playing to rave reviews from watchdog groups but getting panned by the cable industry.
The investigation is important because it could set the ground rules for how consumers receive TV in the future.
“This Justice Department investigation is great news for consumers and cable’s competitors alike,” said Matt Wood policy director for Free Press, in a statement.
Also read: Comcast Ups Data Usage Limits Following Netflix Complaint
And in another statement, Harold Feld, legal director of the watchdog group Public Knowledge, said: “The future...
Read MoreAnna Wintour Gets Fashionably Political at Chicago Fund-Raiser for Obama
June, 12, 2012 5:18 pm | Comments On #Anna Wintour, Media, Michelle Obama, President Obama, Sarah Jessica Parker, VogueAnna Wintour is becoming quite the fashionable fixture on President Obama’s campaign team this election season.
The Vogue editrix hit Chicago on Tuesday -- flanked by supermodels Iman and Chanel Iman, designer Rachel Roy and Obama campaign manager Jim Messina -- for an evening of haute fund-raising at Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Studios.
Wintour was on hand to preside over the Windy City debut of the “Runway to Win” collection, a line of Obama-themed clothes and accessories by designers like Prabal Gurung, Jason Wu, Marc Jacobs, Beyoncé & Tina Knowles, Tory Burch, Tracy Reese and Narcisco Rodriguez -- several of whom are favorites of First Lady Michelle...
Read MoreBen Affleck Joining Hillary Clinton to Raise Awareness About Child Mortality Rates in Congo
June, 12, 2012 7:02 am | Comments On #Ben Affleck, congo, Hillary Clinton, MoviesBen Affleck will join Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday in Washington D.C. to draw attention to the the high rate of preventable child mortality in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The event, which will also involve USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, is being called Child Survival: Call to Action.
Also read: President Obama Takes a Morning Meeting With...
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What happens when the political world and the entertainment industry collide. From FCC policy wonks to the MPAA to celebs at the White House, it’s TheWrap on Washington.
