Paramount Global has appointed Kenneth Weinstein, a former CEO of the conservative policy think tank the Hudson Institute, to serve as the ombudsman for CBS News, it said in a release Monday. The Center for American Rights and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr praised the hiring, but academics told us Paramount’s creation of the ombudsman position under government pressure raises concerns about Weinstein’s independence. CBS News was recently targeted by the Department of Homeland Security over an interview with Secretary Kristi Noem and announced changes to its interview process last week.
The FCC has been asking broadcasters about ATSC 3.0’s use of digital rights management (DRM) encryption and concerns that it could squeeze out some device manufacturers, said officials from ATSC 3.0 consortium Pearl TV and 3.0 device maker Tolka in an interview.
The FCC should investigate ABC over late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s donations to and fundraising for politicians who have appeared on his show, said the Center for American Rights in a complaint filed Thursday.
Lawmakers and witnesses touted fiber over satellite and discussed USF reform and broadband mapping at a House Small Business Committee hearing on expanding broadband to help rural small businesses.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and the Center for American Rights (CAR) have taken aim at CBS over edits to an interview featuring Noem, which aired Sunday on Face the Nation. In a release from the Department of Homeland Security the same day, Noem accused CBS of editing the interview to remove portions where she talked about criminal allegations against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whom the Trump administration has repeatedly sought to deport.
The FCC unanimously approved an FY 2025 regulatory fee order Thursday that hewed closely to the agency’s June NPRM. The order, released Friday, reclassifies 61 indirect full-time equivalents (FTEs) as direct FTEs but rejects calls to create new categories of regulatory fee payors. The FCC will add a new fee category only when “significant FTE resources of a core bureau are being spent on oversight and regulatory activities with respect to a specific service,” the order said. “Such circumstances have not been presented here.” The order will take effect upon publication in the Federal Register, and fees will be due by Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year.
An FCC order on FY 2025 regulatory fees is expected to be unanimously approved soon and will likely contain few surprises, according to industry and FCC officials (see 2506050061). The draft order, circulated to the 10th floor last week, changes how fees are assessed in line with proposals in the June NPRM, but it doesn’t take up calls from broadcasters and satellite companies to expand the base of regulatory fee payors. FCC officials told us they anticipate that the order will be issued in time to allow fees to be paid by the deadline at the end of September.
A federal judge has ordered the FCC to produce information about the Department of Government Efficiency’s activities at the agency in response to a Freedom of Information Act request and lawsuit from journalist Nina Burleigh and public interest group Frequency Forward. The information released so far in response to the FOIA shows that one of the DOGE staffers detailed to the FCC may have had ties to its regulatees, including SpaceX.
Nexstar’s profitability and plans to acquire Tegna undercut broadcaster arguments for doing away with the national ownership cap, said MVPDs, civil rights groups, Newsmax and others in comment filings in docket 17-318. Replies were due Friday.
New questions in the FCC Enforcement Bureau’s previously routine equal employment opportunity (EEO) audit letters appear to be aimed at seeking out broadcaster diversity hiring programs and grievances against them.