Washington Beat

ACA Connects, which represents the interests of small and independently owned MVPDs on Capitol Hill, has brought on a veteran communications attorney to serve as its VP of Regulatory Affairs.

The NAB is now offering radio and TV stations a print and online resource to give their news coverage of the 2020 presidential, congressional and local elections a little extra boost.

The FCC recently released a list of its accomplishments under Chairman Pai. It includes over 220 items adopted in 36 meetings, more than twice the number adopted by the prior administration over a similar period, notes AEI Visiting Scholar Roslyn Layton. As there is "scant coverage of these successes" in the media, Roslyn believes, she's provided some key accomplishments for readers.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has appointed members to serve on three working groups of the Commission's Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment (ACDDE). These working groups—Access to Capital, Digital Empowerment and Inclusion, and Diversity in the Tech Sector—will assist the ACDDE in carrying out its work.

KidVid, ATSC 3.0, and other issues facing the FCC that pertain to broadcast television will be the focal point of an address to be delivered by Republican FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly at the February 25 APTS Public Media Summit in Washington, D.C.

RBR+TVBR on Friday was first to report what FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks has called the “striking … but not surprising” results of the just-released Fourth Report on Ownership of Broadcast Stations from the Media Bureau. Indeed, broadcast media ownership among women and minorities is lagging. The MMTC has now chimed in on the findings.

"Striking ... but not surprising." That, in a nutshell, sums up how FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks feels about the results of the just-released Fourth Report on Ownership of Broadcast Stations from the Media Bureau.

Reps. Anna Eshoo and Mike Doyle want Ajit Pai to enforce FCC rules that clearly identify Russian propaganda airing on U.S. radio stations. Eshoo has been on a quest to squelch what she views is programming and viewpoints airing on "Sputnik Radio," a Kremlin-funded English-language operation with 24/7 coverage in Washington, D.C., and six hours of programming in Kansas City.

The senior Democrat on the FCC has been selected as a keynote speaker at the ACA Connects 27th Annual Summit in Washington, D.C. The event is set for March 18.

With T-Mobile now on target to complete its merger with Sprint by April 1, putting DISH in the driver's seat on becoming the nation's fourth-largest wireless services company, tower companies are likely to benefit from the rollout of 5G spurred by the companies' moves. As such, American Tower shares lifted by more than 4% on Tuesday.

In mid-January, a silent AM radio station licensed for 10kw of power from 1 tower received what appeared to be nothing short of its death sentence from the Media Bureau and the FCC’s Office of the Managing Director. Guess what? The licensee has successfully fought the FCC -- and won. As such, the station has a new lease on life.

President Trump's fiscal year 2021 budget has been released. America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) is once again howling at the desire to wipe out federal funding for its member stations, and for NPR noncomm radio properties across the U.S.

For 10 years, Lynne Montgomery worked on satellite policy and licensing matters at the FCC, including the allocation of licensed and unlicensed spectrum resources, transfers of FCC licenses and the review of GSO and NGSO satellite applications. Now, she's been upped to Partner at one of the nation's leading communications law firms.

On Tuesday (2/11), FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks will host a roundtable discussion on the "Future of Work." This event will convene a group from civil society, academia, and industry to orient the FCC’s role in the Future of Work conversation. The agenda for the event can be found by clicking here.

Media Information Bureau featured columnist Ken Benner has written countless words related to the practice of how keeping something complicated keeps things profitable, and how "most legislation" serves one party at the expense of another. Benner's at it again, and points to a 35-page "classic example of this" issued Thursday by the FCC.