Telecommunications Act

EQS-News: 1&1 AG: Expert assessment by Professor Di Fabio, former justice on the Federal Constitutional Court, determines: Frequency extension without consideration of the fourth network operator would be uncon

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, March 13, 2024

1&1 AG: Expert assessment by Professor Di Fabio, former justice on the Federal Constitutional Court, determines: Frequency extension without consideration of the fourth network operator would be uncon

Key Points: 
  • 1&1 AG: Expert assessment by Professor Di Fabio, former justice on the Federal Constitutional Court, determines: Frequency extension without consideration of the fourth network operator would be uncon
    The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
  • Expert assessment by Professor Di Fabio, former justice on the Federal Constitutional Court, determines: Frequency extension without consideration of the fourth network operator would be unconstitutional
    Montabaur, 21 February 2024.
  • Just like any other network operator, 1&1 requires adequate frequency bandwidths if it is to operate its network competitively and exploit fully the innovative power of the modern network architecture.
  • As of January 2026, the regular allocation cycle of the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) will cause frequencies to become available for reallocation to network operators.

With higher fees and more ads, streaming services like Netflix, Disney+ and Hulu are cashing in by using the old tactics of cable TV

Retrieved on: 
Friday, January 5, 2024

There’s one thing that television viewers can count on in 2024: higher fees and more commercials.

Key Points: 
  • There’s one thing that television viewers can count on in 2024: higher fees and more commercials.
  • The major streaming services – Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ and Max – have all announced rate hikes and new advertising policies.
  • Like their cable predecessors, streaming companies have lured people in with promises of a better and cheaper viewing experience.

Stemming the tide of ‘toll television’

  • This business structure also encouraged programming with mass appeal in order to deliver the broadest possible audiences to advertisers.
  • But not all TV viewers were happy with the formulaic quiz shows and sitcoms that dominated the airwaves.
  • Sensing an untapped opportunity, TV entrepreneurs tried to concoct ways to circumvent the dominance of the Big Three.
  • At first, this technology simply expanded the reach of CBS, NBC and ABC rather than providing a competing service.

Cable catches on

  • As frustrations with the limits of broadcast television intensified across the political spectrum during the 1970s, consumers, elected officials and regulators all embraced the potential of cable television to offer an alternative.
  • By the mid-1970s, experiments with programming disseminated via satellite and cable tested new types of niche channels and shows – like nonstop movies, sports, music or the weather – to see if audiences might be interested.
  • Like STV before them, cable companies tapped into frustrations with broadcasting and its advertising model.

Deregulation nation

  • Black Entertainment Television created new opportunities for programming geared toward Black audiences.
  • The Daytime Channel offered entertainment and news directed at women, while MTV connected a younger generation through music videos.
  • Then there was C-SPAN, which put the cameras on the House of Representatives starting in 1979.

Playing political football


Al Gore, then an ambitious senator representing Tennessee, saw an opportunity. He pounced on the issue of cable companies that had leveraged consumer demand into what he described as “total domination of the marketplace.”

  • Malone pushed back, highlighting the unprecedented choice that people now had on cable.
  • Rate increases allowed for experimentation with niche programming that never stood a chance on network broadcast stations, he added.

Everything old is new again

  • That the marketplace competition and programming choice alone could deliver for the public interest.
  • The expansion of a media landscape forged on the terrain of private businesses and their profit margins.
  • It also convinced elected officials and constituents to embrace a different understanding of the public interest, one where the market reigns supreme.


Kathryn Cramer Brownell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

NCLA Amicus Brief Encourages Supreme Court to Hear Case Against FCC’s Universal Service Fund

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, November 30, 2023

However, Congress wrote an evolving and open-ended statute, leaving FCC to set and then rewrite its own policies for the Universal Service Fund (USF) and to fund the program without limit through fees that escape Congressional oversight.

Key Points: 
  • However, Congress wrote an evolving and open-ended statute, leaving FCC to set and then rewrite its own policies for the Universal Service Fund (USF) and to fund the program without limit through fees that escape Congressional oversight.
  • Today, the New Civil Liberties Alliance filed an amicus curiae brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case of Consumers’ Research v. FCC, overturn this unconstitutional arrangement, and correct the enfeebled “nondelegation” doctrine that has enabled it.
  • The Supreme Court should grant certiorari in this case and once again restrict legislative power to Congress—where it belongs.
  • By relinquishing its power of the purse, FCC has gone rogue and has unconstitutionally taxed the American people to the tune of $10 billion dollars annually to fund its Universal Service Fund.

CHARTER SENIOR EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT DAVID ELLEN TRANSITIONS TO ADVISORY ROLE IN DECEMBER 2023

Retrieved on: 
Monday, August 21, 2023

STAMFORD, Conn., Aug. 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR) today announced that industry veteran and Senior Executive Vice President David Ellen will transition to an advisory role to Charter's President and CEO Chris Winfrey beginning December 1.

Key Points: 
  • STAMFORD, Conn., Aug. 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR) today announced that industry veteran and Senior Executive Vice President David Ellen will transition to an advisory role to Charter's President and CEO Chris Winfrey beginning December 1.
  • "I have spent over 20 years working in this incredible industry and the last seven here at Charter for which I am very grateful," said Mr. Ellen.
  • I am pleased David will continue to support me and Charter in an advisory role and wish him well as he pursues his outside endeavors."
  • Mr. Ellen joined Charter in 2016 from Cablevision, where he served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel until the completion of Cablevision's sale.

NCLA Amicus Brief Calls on Fifth Circuit to End FCC’s Unlawful Control over Universal Service Fund

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, August 8, 2023

This vague standard does not provide an adequate “intelligible principle” to limit FCC’s delegation of legislative power under the Constitution’s Vesting Clause.

Key Points: 
  • This vague standard does not provide an adequate “intelligible principle” to limit FCC’s delegation of legislative power under the Constitution’s Vesting Clause.
  • NCLA released the following statements:
    “The Constitution is clear when it says that the taxing and spending power is vested in Congress.
  • Here, Congress gave the FCC a blank check with no rules—abdicating its power to bureaucrats who are accountable to no one.
  • Such broad and vague delegations cut out Congress and leave the American public at the mercy of power-hungry agencies.”

WCO Spectrum Appoints Former FCC Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth as Vice Chairman

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, January 31, 2023

WCO Spectrum has appointed Harold Furchtgott-Roth to the position of Vice Chairman.

Key Points: 
  • WCO Spectrum has appointed Harold Furchtgott-Roth to the position of Vice Chairman.
  • View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230131005065/en/
    WCO Spectrum has appointed Harold Furchtgott-Roth as the company's Vice Chairman.
  • From 1997 through 2001, Mr. Furchtgott-Roth served as a commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission.
  • (Photo: Business Wire)
    From 1997 through 2001, Mr. Furchtgott-Roth served as a commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission .

Statement - Minister Champagne announces final direction to the CRTC placing affordability and consumer rights at the forefront of its future decisions

Retrieved on: 
Monday, February 13, 2023

This is why our government is using every tool at our disposal to ensure that telecom services are competitive, reliable and, above all, affordable.

Key Points: 
  • This is why our government is using every tool at our disposal to ensure that telecom services are competitive, reliable and, above all, affordable.
  • "While progress has been made, Canadians still pay too much and see too little competition.
  • That is why, last year, I announced a proposed policy direction to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to make sure that competition, affordability, consumer rights and universal access would be core to future CRTC decisions.
  • I trust that the CRTC will act on this important work, and I look forward to seeing the direction being put into action soon.

Rogers-Shaw merger: TekSavvy challenges wholesale deal with Vidéotron, says CRTC ruling required before Minister's final decision

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, January 19, 2023

The CRTC sets wholesale rates paid by ISPs who lease access to large carrier networks.

Key Points: 
  • The CRTC sets wholesale rates paid by ISPs who lease access to large carrier networks.
  • The wholesale arrangements between Rogers and Vidéotron were a key factor in the Competition Tribunal's Dec. 31 decision to allow the Rogers-Shaw merger.
  • "The CRTC has exclusive jurisdiction over this matter, and it must render its decision before the Minister makes his final decision on the merger."
  • TekSavvy's application requests that the CRTC also investigate whether Bell is providing unduly preferential wholesale arrangements to its recently acquired ISPs.

National Press Club Names Indian Journalist Rana Ayyub 2022 Aubuchon International Honoree

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, June 28, 2022

WASHINGTON, June 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Following is a statement from Jen Judson, President of the National Press Club and Gil Klein, President of the National Press Club Journalism Institute announcing that Indian Journalist Rana Ayyub is the 2022 International John Aubuchon Award Honoree.

Key Points: 
  • WASHINGTON, June 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Following is a statement from Jen Judson, President of the National Press Club and Gil Klein, President of the National Press Club Journalism Institute announcing that Indian Journalist Rana Ayyub is the 2022 International John Aubuchon Award Honoree.
  • "We are pleased to name Rana Ayyub the 2022 John Aubuchon Award International Honoree.
  • At the center of this storm stands Rana Ayyub and the National Press Club stands with her.
  • Media Contact: Bill McCarren for the National Press Club, 202-662-7534
    View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/national-press-club-names-india...

CRTC imposes $7.5 million in penalties on Bell Canada for violations of Canada's Telecommunications Act

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, June 15, 2022

Today, the CRTC announced that it has imposed a total of $7.5 million in penalties on Bell Canada for three violations of the Telecommunications Act.

Key Points: 
  • Today, the CRTC announced that it has imposed a total of $7.5 million in penalties on Bell Canada for three violations of the Telecommunications Act.
  • The CRTC found that Bell Canada denied permit applications for access to its telephone poles from Videotron, its main competitor in Quebec.
  • As a result, Videotron was not able to access Bell Canada's poles, which delayed its network deployment and created a competitive advantage for Bell Canada.
  • The CRTC's decision issued today sets the penalties for these three violations of the Telecommunications Act at $2.5 million each.