The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council has provided arguable impetus for the FCC to try, again, to toss (or at least relax) its Newspaper-Broadcast Cross-Ownership prohibition -- and the FCC wants to know what you think about it.… Continue Reading
The Supreme Court has declined to review the Circuit's decision overturning the FCC's 2008 revisions to the newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rule.… Continue Reading
The Janet Jackson case is, for all intents and purposes, finished. But, as has been customary with just about everything surrounding L'Affaire Jackson, even the Supreme Court's final order included some unexpected flair.… Continue Reading
For some insight into what the Court's recent decision on indecency means going forward, we called on the Swami, Kevin Goldberg. Not surprisingly, he had some thoughts.… Continue Reading
The Supreme Court has sent the Fox and NYPD Blue cases back down to the Second Circuit. While that might sound like bad news for broadcasters, that's not necessarily the case. In fact, Fox and ABC can clearly view this decision as a significant victory.… Continue Reading
On January 10, the Swami and the Blogmeister took a field trip to the Supreme Court to catch the Fox/ABC indecency argument. Here's their report.… Continue Reading
In a long-awaited if anticlimactic decision, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has again sided with CBS in its fight with the FCC over the 2004 Super Bowl® half-time show.… Continue Reading
Irony Alert! The Third Circuit recently took the FCC to task for failing to do more to promote minority and female broadcast ownership. The Court's decision has now led to the abrupt termination of a Commission policy intended to (wait for it) promote minority and female broadcast ownership.… Continue Reading
The Third Circuit has just given major elements of the FCC's 2008 cross-ownership and diversity decisions the big thumbs down, depositing them back at Square One.… Continue Reading
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the Fox and NYPD Blue cases next term -- and the constitutionality of the FCC's indecency regime will be the only issue on the docket.… Continue Reading
Like a hard-core poker player on a losing streak, the Commission isn't going to let a recent string of defeats discourage it. Au contraire, the FCC's going double-or-nothing: it has asked the Supreme Court to review the Second Circuit's 2010 indecency decisions in the Fox and NYPD Blue cases.… Continue Reading
In 2006, the FCC hustled through revisions of a number of rules affecting eligibility for bidding credits in spectrum auctions. Bad news for the FCC: the Third Circuit has now sent two of the three rule changes back to the agency for a re-do because of shortcomings in the rulemaking process.… Continue Reading
After the Second Circuit declared the FCC's indecency policy unconstitutional,the FCC had only three options if it wanted to fight to defend its indecency regime. It has now made its choice.… Continue Reading
In response to a surge of reader interest in his prognostications, Kevin Goldberg has agreed to give us a look-see into Kevin's Krystal Ball for a prediction of how the Supreme Court may vote if the Second Circuit's recent indecency decision in Fox goes back up.… Continue Reading
Now that the initial hoopla attendant to the release of the Second Circuit's Fox decision has quieted down, let's take a gander at legal scenarios that might be in store for us on the indecency front.… Continue Reading
In a huge win for broadcasters and First Amendment-loving citizens, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has struck down the FCC's indecency policy.… Continue Reading
The FCC trudged back into court on January 13 to defend the "fleeting expletives" portion of its indecency regime one more time. When last the Commission fought this particular fight in this particular arena, things didn't go so well for the agency. From what we saw, the Commission is not likely to fare any better this time around.… Continue Reading
If you have lost track of the status of the pending indecency appeals amid various other summer distractions, here's a heads up: briefing schedules for the remand phases of the Fox and CBS appeals have been announced.… Continue Reading
