Starks and Simington Exits Leave FCC without a Quorum
At the end of the business day today (6/6), the Federal Communications Commission is without a quorum of three commissioners. Democrat Commissioner Geoffrey Starks previously announced his exit from the
Commission and Republican Commissioner Nathan Simington abruptly announced his departure from his commissioner role earlier this week. President Trump nominated Olivia Trusty for the open seat that existed prior to Starks’ and Simington’s departures but that has been stalled in the Senate. Interestingly, FOX News reports that Simington’s chief of staff Gavin Wax is being floated as a potential nominee, according to “a source close to the FCC.” Regardless, the Senate needs to get at least one nominee confirmed soon as the Commission’s ability to do business is disrupted.
Global, the parent company of CBS, have begun charging what’s known as ‘reverse’ retransmission fees to broadcasters. The networks demand a share of broadcasters’ revenue for the right to use their content. This practice was once unheard of, but some networks now regularly require more than 100% of broadcasters’ retransmission fees as ‘reverse’ fees, leaving broadcasters to sustain themselves solely on whatever ad sales they can make with their limited inventory (also capped by the networks, and often amounts to only a few minutes of airtime per hour). This funnels more and more money out of local markets and local journalism and into the hands of mega media corporations, who threaten broadcasters with content blackouts if they don’t get sky-high payouts.” They go on to argue that the “problem gets even worse with providers like YouTube TV and Hulu Live. Under their affiliate agreements with the networks, local affiliates can’t even negotiate for online providers to carry the content. The networks do it for them and pay the affiliates whatever they deem reasonable (sometimes, nothing). This gives the networks total control over streaming distribution while robbing local stations of revenue and autonomy in the rapidly growing online video space. What was once a mechanism to support hometown news is now a corporate racket. Instead of investing in local reporters, meteorologists, and producers, local broadcasters’ funds are siphoned to bloated national newsrooms that churn out anti-Trump propaganda and woke talking points. Meanwhile, higher cable bills pass the cost to everyday Americans.” 
lies in its ability to deploy high-end, labor-light, automation-heavy processes at scale. It’s a productivity story now, driven by robotics, industrial AI, and, most crucially, advanced 5G infrastructure deployed as an industrial platform — not just as a consumer gimmick.” He adds, “Compare this with our own policy environment, where even the best private sector players are hamstrung by outdated regulations, capricious permitting processes, and the dogma that government shouldn’t pick winners — especially in telecom or manufacturing. That ideology might have made sense in the 1990s, but it’s lethal to the future of our telecommunications industry now, and in consequence, our manufacturing future.” 
making companies think twice about the way they describe internal diversity programs. They’re afraid the government may retaliate against them simply because of actions that are responsive to how consumers use their services or choose to buy their products. Sadly, the hard-fought lessons of the civil rights movement are being erased – or worse, distorted – to claim that fairness for all requires discrimination against some. That could not be further from the truth.” Gomez says she’s concerned about the Commission weaponizing “its regulatory authority to enforce government mandates that seek to eliminate voluntary efforts by private companies to increase fair and equal employment opportunities.” 
the FCC’s requirement to do a foreign ownership review and Audacy’s request that the FCC grant a limited waiver of that review in order to more speedily exit Chapter 11. This request is under heavy scrutiny due to the political aspects of the case. Carr recently told the Post that the FCC should not allow a “Soros shortcut” – a term used by the Media Research Center in its Petition to Deny filed with the Commission – but must follow FCC procedure. Audacy argued in its opposition to the Petition to Deny that there is nothing unique about this request, saying that the FCC “granting a limited waiver deferring its foreign ownership review to facilitate a licensee’s prompt emergence from bankruptcy is consistent with the Communications Act.” Audacy adds that the notion that the limited waiver is new “completely ignores longstanding precedent establishing the Commission-approved special warrant process used in a number of prior transactions to allow licensees to emerge from bankruptcy promptly, while affording the Commission sufficient opportunity to review foreign ownership issues post-emergence.” 
Indeed, TikTok has been caught engaging in a pattern of illicit surveillance and making false statements about personnel in Beijing accessing sensitive U.S. user data. These facts were laid bare for the world to see when the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a TikTok oversight hearing last year. And that is why there is now a broad, bipartisan consensus that TikTok cannot continue to operate in the U.S. in its current form. I want to applaud the strong, bipartisan leadership that Members of Congress have shown in advancing this bill, which would definitively resolve the serious national security threats TikTok poses by banning the app or requiring that it genuinely sever ties to the CCP. This is a smart, threat-specific bill that would address a clear and present danger. I hope that this bill will soon become law.”