Legislation
  • Public Interest Groups Growing Impatient With FCC
    By Juliana Greenwald, National Journal Saying the issue has been studied long enough, public interest groups Wednesday called on the FCC to proceed with action on network neutrality rules that would bar broadband providers from discriminating against or prioritizing Internet content. The groups made the call in response to the public notice issued [...]
  • FCC Requests More Comments On Net Neutrality, Gets Criticized
    By Elizabeth Woyke, Forbes The work of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is never easy, but lately the agency seems to be eliciting more negativity than usual. The agency’s most recent request for information, issued today (Sept. 1), has irked several public interest groups, including Public Knowledge, Free Press and Media Access Project. [...]
  • FCC spells out possible new mandates for broadband providers
    By Sara Jerome, The Hill The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released a document on Wednesday spelling out mandates it is considering that would limit how broadband service providers may treat wireless traffic and sell “specialized” services. The two issues constitute the most contentious areas of the net-neutrality debate. Industry stakeholders have failed to reach an agreement on [...]
  • Instead of Action, FCC Asks Repetitive Questions on Open Internet
    WASHINGTON — Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski announced today that his agency is seeking further public comment to determine whether wireless Internet service providers and “specialized” services should be subject to network neutrality rules. Matt Wood, Associate Director of Media Access Project, issued the following statement: “Recent events prove that giant companies left to regulate themselves [...]
  • The 2000s: A History of the FCC’s Internet Policy Deregulation
    By Kamilla Kovacs, Media Access Project Throughout years of debate on open Internet protections, cable and telecommunications carriers have continually argued that strong net neutrality rules will hurt investment. They maintain that regulation to forbid discrimination in network management would cause them to back away from building and upgrading broadband infrastructure nationwide. These flawed arguments are [...]
  • A Midsummer Net Scheme? Telecom Lobbyists Hold Secret Internet Talks
    Washington, D.C., can get hot and muggy in August, which is why lawmakers leave for most of the month, and many staffers, lobbyists and other industry-types also clear out of town in search of cooler climes. But there is something odd going on right now in Washington. Representatives of some of the [...]
  • MAP files Reply to Opposition to Petition to Deny Comcast/NBCU Transaction
    On August 19th, Free Press, Media Access Project, Consumer Federation of America, and Consumers Union filed Reply to Opposition to Petition to Deny Comcast/NBCU Transaction. You can find the full brief here: http://www.mediaaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/ReplyOppositiontoPetitiontoDenyComcastNBCUtransaction.pdf
  • Advocates file closing arguments with FCC on Comcast/NBC deal
    By David Lieberman, USA Today Advocates for and against Comcast’s plan to buy NBC Universal weighed in one last time at the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday, the cut-off date for formal filings regarding the deal. Regulators are expected to rule on it by the end of the year. While many comments haven’t surfaced yet at the [...]
  • Industry orgs nix Comcast-NBC U deal
    Writers Guild West among organizations against merger By Paul Harris, Variety A host of industry orgs, consumer and media watchdog groups weighed in against the Comcast-NBC Universal deal on Thursday, the deadline for filing the last round of comments on the merger with the Federal Communications Commission. In its filing, the Writers Guild of America West took issue [...]
  • Critics Assail Comcast-NBCU Merger Plans
    By Georg Szalai, Reuters The war of words between Comcast and its critics flared up once more as final responses during the Federal Communications Commission’s comment period for the largest U.S. cable firm’s planned acquisition of NBC Universal were due yesterday. Critics highlighted potential dangers of what would be the biggest media combination in recent memory. Comcast [...]