Save Access

from: USa Today

FCC Bans Exclusive Cable Deals at Apartment Complexes

November 1, 2007
By David Lieberman

Trying to promote pay-TV competition and keep prices in check, the Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to wipe out deals giving cable operators exclusive access to apartments, condos and other centrally managed real estate developments.

from: Broadcasting and Cable

D.C. Not Quite Done with Media-Ownership Hearings
Senate Commerce Committee to Hold Localism-Topped Media-Ownership Hearing Nov. 8

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 11/1/2007 4:27:00 PM

It turns out that the Federal Communications Commission's sixth and last localism hearing wasn't the last one after all.

from: Wall Street Journal

Four Amigos to Telecom Firms’ Rescue

November 1, 2007

Four former Justice Department officials – considered heroes by some for standing up to the Bush White House – weighed in on the debate over granting legal immunity to telecommunications companies for any help they’ve given to government surveillance.

from: Washington Post

Roadblock for Telecom Immunity

November 1, 2007
By Ellen Nakashima

In a blow to the Bush administration, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s top Democrat and Republican expressed reluctance yesterday to granting blanket immunity to telecommunications carriers sued for assisting the government’s warrantless surveillance program.

from: madison.com

Some support for cable competition bill eroding
By MARK PITSCH, Wisconsin State Journal

Some union support for a controversial cable competition bill is eroding over worries it will kill off public access channels and fail to generate the jobs supporters promise.

The concerns emerged this week as AB 207 vaulted onto the fast track for approval after lying dormant since May while lawmakers worked out a new, two-year state budget.

from: Lasar's Letter

FCC’s New Cable Rules — One Step Forward, One Step Back?

From Lasar’s Letter, November 1, 2007
By Matthew Lasar

Media reform groups offered mixed reviews at best to the Federal Communications Commission’s latest moves on cable competition and video franchise authority.

from: Washington Times

FCC’s Three-Ring Hearing

November 1, 2007
By Kara Rowland

The nation’s media regulator wants to relax limits on ownership of radio, television and newspaper outlets, but the Republican-led Federal Communications Commission was greeted yesterday by a gale of testimony overwhelmingly opposed to the idea.

from: Washington Post

Critics Turn Out to Protest Media Consolidation

From Washington Post, November 1, 2007
By Frank Ahrens

Even though the media landscape has changed radically since the last time the Federal Communications Commission tried to alter its media-ownership rules, a hearing at the FCC yesterday showed that the debate remains as heated as ever.

from: Courant.com

AT & T Wins In Court; TV Service To Continue

By MARK PETERS

Courant Staff Writer

November 1, 2007

A Hartford Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday that AT&T can resume signing up customers for its TV service, possibly ending the battle over how to regulate the company's alternative to cable television.

from: FCC

Commissioner Adelstein's Dissent on FCC Video Franchise Ruling

STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER JONATHAN S. ADELSTEIN
DISSENTING

Re: Implementation of Section 621(a)(1) of the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984 as amended by the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992, MB Docket No. 05-311, Second Report and Order