House Oversight Committee GOP leaders said Thursday night they launched an investigation into the FCC’s handling of radio group Audacy’s request for a temporary waiver of FCC foreign-ownership rules to complete a bankruptcy restructuring that includes George Soros-affiliated entities purchasing its stock. Panel Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., claim the FCC’s expected approval of Audacy’s request (see 2409170015) represents a politicization of the review process just more than one month before the Nov. 5 presidential election. Langworthy briefly raised the issue during a House Oversight hearing earlier this month (see 2409190063).
An order approving Audacy’s request for a temporary exemption from the foreign-ownership rules was adopted but isn’t expected to be released before next week, FCC officials told us. The waiver would allow Audacy to complete foreign-ownership review after it finishes a bankruptcy restructuring that involves control of the broadcaster passing to a fund affiliated with George Soros' family. FCC Republicans hadn’t submitted dissenting statements Wednesday afternoon but indicated they plan to do so, the agency officials said. Broadcast industry officials, attorneys and others told us the Audacy transaction wouldn’t attract as much attention without Soros’ name attached, and that radio broadcasters have long sought increased private equity investment in their industry. “They’re making it a political ax,” said Christopher Terry, University of Minnesota media law professor. “The radio industry has been cash-strapped for 20 years.”
Former President Donald Trump appeared again to threaten ABC's “license.” In an interview on Fox News after a campaign rally on Saturday, the Republican presidential nominee was asked about his ABC News debate earlier in the month with Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrats' presidential nominee. Trump said the moderators were unfairly biased against him and that ABC should be investigated. “And, you know, they have to get a license from the federal government,” Trump added. Programming networks aren’t licensed by the FCC; individual broadcast stations are. Previously, Trump called for ABC to lose its “license” immediately after the debate with Harris and issued similar threats against NBC, CNN and other outlets earlier in his campaign and as a sitting president. In letters to Congress last week (see 2409190063), FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said the agency “does not revoke licenses for broadcast stations simply because a political candidate disagrees with or dislikes content or coverage.” ABC didn't comment.
Lawyers for Maurine and Matthew Molak slammed an FCC pleading asking the 5th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court to reject the couple’s challenge seeking review of a commission order from July that lets schools and libraries use E-rate support for off-premises Wi-Fi hot spots and wireless internet services (see 2408300027). The FCC said the challenge wasn’t ripe because the commission had yet to address a petition by the Molaks seeking reconsideration of the order (see 2409130063).
Amazon, Meta, Google, TikTok and other companies should change their data “surveillance” practices to improve user privacy, the FTC said Thursday, concluding a probe the Trump administration started. The FTC issued a staff report with recommendations for nine companies that received orders in December 2020 (see 2012140054). Republican commissioners said in statements that some of the recommendations exceed the FTC’s authority. The report details how companies “harvest an enormous amount” of data and monetize it for billions of dollars annually, Chair Lina Khan said. “These surveillance practices can endanger people’s privacy, threaten their freedoms, and expose them to a host of harms.” The agency issued Section 6(b) orders to Amazon, Facebook, YouTube, X, Snap, ByteDance, Discord, Reddit and WhatsApp. Staff recommended data minimization practices, targeted advertising limits and more-stringent restrictions for children. The commission voted 5-0 to issue the report, but Commissioners Andrew Ferguson and Melissa Holyoak dissented in part. Ferguson argued that some of the FTC’s recommended actions for companies exceed agency authority: “We are not moral philosophers, business ethicists, or social commentators. ... [A]s Beltway bureaucrats, our opinion on these matters is probably worth less than the average American’s.” Some of the recommendations are “thinly-veiled threats,” he said. Ferguson cited the recommendation that companies not willfully ignore user age because it won’t “help companies avoid liability under” the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. Holyoak said some of the agency’s recommendations could chill online speech. For example, should a company follow recommendations to redesign algorithms for classes the agency deems “protected,” it could undermine the speech rights of certain populations. The report “fails to robustly explore the full consequences of its conclusions and recommendations,” she added. Khan in her statement denied the report “somehow endorses or encourages the platforms to disfavor certain viewpoints.” The report directly states that it doesn’t “address or endorse any attempt to censor or moderate content based on political views,” said Khan.
Citing "unanticipated intervening global events beyond [its] control," EchoStar is seeking additional time to meet construction milestones attached to some of its wireless licenses. An advantage EchoStar has is that the FCC wants to see increased national wireless network competition, analysts told us.
House Oversight Committee Democrats tussled with Republican FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr during a Thursday hearing over his responses to their questions about former President Donald Trump’s call to revoke ABC’s licenses over the network’s handling of his Sept. 10 presidential debate against Vice President Kamala Harris (see 2409110058). House Oversight Democrats also repeatedly highlighted that Carr wrote the telecom chapter of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 policy agenda (see 2407050015). Panel Republicans focused on amplifying Carr’s criticism of NTIA’s implementation of the $42.5 billion broadband equity, access and deployment (BEAD) program (see 2408070023).
After senators sent letters to all five FCC commissioners Friday calling for the agency to avoid “weaponization” of its licensing authority against broadcasters, Commissioner Nathan Simington responded, saying the FCC should renew the license of Fox station WTXF-TV Philadelphia over the opposition of public interest group the Media and Democracy Project (MAD). Letters from Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., referenced recent comments from Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump against ABC (see 2409120056).
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday invalidated the FCC’s definition of “qualifying concealment element” in its wireless siting declaratory ruling approved in June 2020 under former Chairman Ajit Pai (see 2006090060). A three-judge panel upheld other parts of the 2020 ruling, but a lawyer who argued the case declared victory and called on the FCC to immediately make changes based on the 9th Circuit's instructions.
House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., confirmed to us that the panel will mark up the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (HR-8449) next week but was uncertain about whether a pair of controversial privacy bills -- the American Privacy Rights Act (HR-8818) and Kids Online Safety Act (HR-7891) -- will also be on the docket. House Commerce scuttled a planned June markup of HR-8449 (see 2406270059), which would mandate automakers include AM radio technology in future electric vehicles, because of some House GOP leaders’ opposition to HR-7891 and HR-8818. “We’re still working through” whether there will be consensus to move on HR-7891 and HR-8818 next week, Rodgers said in a brief interview. The Senate voted 91-3 in late July (see 2407300042) to pass its HR-7891 companion, S-1409, as part of a package that included the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (S-1418) Rodgers and other HR-7891 backers have been hoping to use the bipartisan Senate vote on KOSA to gain momentum for House action on the measure amid resistance from House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and other chamber GOP leaders to that measure and HR-8818 that derailed the June markup session (see 2406270046), lobbyists told us. House Commerce and HR-7891 backers “continue to work on a bipartisan path forward in the House on behalf of the millions of parents who deserve the ability to keep their kids safe,” a panel spokesperson said. S-1409 cosponsor Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., touted new endorsements of the bill Thursday from 10 conservative leaders, including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) and several former Trump administration officials.