Sinclair agreed to a $48 million civil penalty as part of settling an FCC probe of the company's since-killed takeover of Tribune Media, the agency announced (see 2005060061) Wednesday. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said the agency isn't revoking Sinclair's licenses after staff investigated various allegations. That fit with expectations as staffers were reviewing lack of candor that potentially occurred during the pendency of Sinclair/Tribune (see 1906270068).
Jonathan Make
Jonathan Make, Executive Editor, is a journalist for publications including Communications Daily. He joined the Warren Communications News staff in 2005, after covering the industry at Bloomberg. He moved to Washington in 2003 to research the Federal Communications Commission as part of a master’s degree in media and public affairs at George Washington University. He’s immediate past president of the Society of Professional Journalists local chapter. You can follow Make on Instagram, Medium and Twitter: @makejdm.
Sinclair agreed to a $48 million civil penalty as part of settling an FCC probe of the company's since-killed takeover of Tribune Media, the agency announced Wednesday. It's the highest civil penalty involving a broadcaster, the FCC said: The prior high was $24 million by Univision in 2007, as that company was being taken private. Now, Sinclair has licenses up for renewal.
FCBA canceled the annual December FCC chairman's dinner. It's one of the further-out telecom and tech events canceled so far due to the pandemic and resulting public gathering precautions.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai wants ISPs to not cut off services to customers for an additional approximately month and a half, through June. He extended his Keep Americans Connected pledge until June 30, the agency announced Thursday.
As COVID-19 continues to affect the U.S., ISPs are beginning to extend the period of time they will delay disconnecting telecom services. Within minutes of each other Monday afternoon, Cox and Verizon made such commitments. More companies are expected to follow.
AT&T's Randall Stephenson is retiring as CEO. The 60-year-old who has been chief for 13 years will become executive chairman until January; he had been CEO-chair. The board elected Chief Operating Officer-President John Stankey, 57, as CEO effective July 1, and a director on June 1.
The FCC is poised to act against four companies it alleges are controlled by China's government. The agency issued show cause orders Friday to China Telecom Americas, China Unicom Americas, ComNet and Pacific Networks. They are asked to explain why the commission shouldn't “start the process of revoking their domestic and international section authorizations enabling them to operate” in the U.S. The materials are here.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai circulated a draft order to OK with conditions Ligado’s application for a low-power terrestrial nationwide broadband network, the agency confirmed Thursday morning in a long-anticipated move. The L-band operations could support 5G and the IoT, the regulator said. “This draft order would both promote more efficient and effective use of our nation’s spectrum resources and ensure that adjacent band operations," including GPS, "are protected from harmful interference,” it added.
COVID-19 effects continue in telecom, media and technology (TMT). NAB won't move when planned, we were told Tuesday (see 2004140063). Earlier that day, we were told that the annual summer Technology Policy Institute conference in Aspen, Colorado, was postponed to the fall. TPI moved it cross-country. You can see that report in front of our pay wall here. Monday, we reported the FCC won't move on time.
Frontier Communications is the latest telco to file for bankruptcy. Bondholders representing more than 75% of the carrier's approximately $11 billion in unsecured bonds agreed to support the plan that's expected to reduce the company’s debt by more than $10 billion, said an email we received at around 11 p.m. EDT Tuesday. The company said it and subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 protection in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.