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FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel is floating a proposal that would require rebates to multichannel subscribers in the event of a blackout or broadcast stations.

Her proposal comes after the recent high-profile standoff between The Walt Disney Co. and Charter Communications, which left ABC-owned stations, ESPN and other cable networks dark for about a week and a half on Spectrum cable systems.

If adopted by the five-member commission, the proposal would then go to public comment period before a final vote. It would “require cable and satellite providers to issue rebates to subscribers in the event of a blackout doe to a failure to reach a retransmission consent agreement with broadcast” station group owners.

Rosenworcel also outlined a proposal that would require cable and satellite companies to notify the FCC via an online public portal when there is a “blackout of 24 hours or more of broadcast programming due to a failure...

Even the word “Washington” can be immediately political and polarizing for some these days. There’s no doubting that we live in an age of divisive politics, but one issue that all can surely agree on is the annoyance of loud commercials.

There was a time when ads on every TV source could be much louder than the actual content people turned on their sets to watch. That was before 2010, however, when Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-r.I.) introduced the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (Calm) Act, which regulated how loud commercials on broadcast TV.

However, the television industry has undergone an enormous transformation in the intervening years. Today, commercials that play alongside ad-supported streaming are increasing in volume once again, and Eshoo and Whitehouse are reintroducing a modernized version of their bill that would restrict the volume of streaming ads as well.

“I authored the Calm...

A group of House Democrats plan to introduce legislation that will remove some of the liability protections for tech platforms, on the heels of a Facebook whistleblower’s testimony last week that was highly critical of the social giant’s practices.

The new legislation would target Section 230, a provision of a 1996 law that has given platforms liability for third party content.

The bill, to be introduced on Friday, would expose an online platform to liability when it “knowingly or recklessly uses an algorithm or other technology to recommend content that materially contributes to physical or severe emotional injury,” according to the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Its chairman, Rep. Frank Pallone (D-nj), said in a statement that platforms like Facebook continue to actively amplify content that endangers our families, promotes conspiracy theories, and incites extremism to generate more clicks and ad dollars. These platforms are not passive bystanders – they are knowingly choosing profits over people,...

Update, 11:38 Am Pt: Two Democrats defended a letter they sent to a dozen cable, satellite and streaming companies, in which they asked whether they would continue to carry Fox News, One America News Network and Newsmax.

“The First Amendment, my friends, start with four words: Congress shall make no laws,” Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-ca) said during a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing on disinformation. “So those of you who may not have read the letters, I suggest that you do.”

In the letters, Eshoo and Rep. Jerry McEnerney (D-ca) express their concerns of the spread of misinformation at right-wing media outlets, and ask the TV distributors to answer a series of questions, including whether they plan to continue carrying the channels.

“What moral or ethical principles do you apply in deciding which channels to carry or...

Two prominent House Democrats have fired off a letter to AT&T, Comcast and Amazon and other channel distributors, asking them whether they plan to continue carrying Fox News, One America News Network and Newsmax.

In the letter, Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-ca) and Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-ca) single out the networks as “misinformation rumor mills and conspiracy theory hotbeds that produce content that leads to real harm.”

“Misinformation on TV has led to our current polluted information environment that radicalizes individuals to commit seditious acts and rejects public health best practices, among other issues in our public discourse,” they wrote in the letters. (Read them here). The letter was sent to 12 cable, satellite and streaming companies.

The lawmakers added that “to our knowledge, the cable, satellite, and over-the-top companies that disseminate these media outlets to American viewers have done nothing in response to the misinformation aired by these outlets.”

Eshoo and...

San Francisco, Jan 22 (Ians) In a bid to combat the spread of misinformation in the wake of January 6 Capitol Hill riots, several Democratic lawmakers have sent letters to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, directing them to make sweeping changes to stop the radicalisation of their platforms.

Only hours after gaining full control of Congress, Representatives Anna Eshoo (California) and Tom Malinowski (New Jersey), along with several other members, sent out letters to the CEOs of the three tech giants.

"The horrific damage to our democracy wrought on January 6 demonstrated how these social media platforms played a role in radicalising and emboldening terrorists to attack our Capitol," Eshoo said in a statement on Thursday.

"These American companies must fundamentally rethink algorithmic systems that are at odds with democracy."

According to The Verge, Facebook and YouTube declined to comment and a Twitter spokesperson said "they had received the letter and planned to respond...

The WGA West’s political action committee has endorsed Joe Biden for president and Kamala Harris for vice president. The guild’s Pac joins entertainment industry unions IATSE, the American Federation of Musicians, and Actors’ Equity in endorsing the Democratic challengers to President Donald Trump and VP Mike Pence.

The WGA West Pac is also supporting the re-election of seven incumbent Democratic U.S. Senators: Cory Booker (NJ), Dick Durbin (Il), Doug Jones (Al), Ed Markey (Ma), Jeanne Shaheen (Nh), Tina Smith (Mn), and Gary Peters (Mi). The Pac is also supporting the election of nine Senate challengers — all Democrats –including Jaime Harrison (Sc), Steve Bullock (Mt), Cal Cunningham (Nc), Mike Espy (Ms), Sara Gideon (Me), Theresa Greenfield (Ia), Mj Hegar (TX), Jon Ossoff (Ga) and Raphael Warnock (Ga).

The Pac says its senatorial endorsements were made “with the goal of flipping the Senate to a pro-writer and pro-union majority.

The WGA West’s political action committee had a strong midterm election night, helping to flip the House of Representatives. Twenty-six of the 31 candidates it endorsed – all Democrats – were elected, including 18 of the 19 House candidates it backed, and nine of its 14 senatorial picks.

Most of the candidates it supported were incumbents, but the union also backed two candidates who defeated incumbent Republicans: Jackie Rosen, who unseated Nevada Sen. Dean Heller, and Harley Rouda, who ousted longtime Southern California Rep. Dana Rohrabacher and helped give the Democrats control of the House.

The guild’s Pac, which backed up its endorsements with more than $200,000 in campaign contributions, also supported winning senators Dianne Feinstein, Elizabeth Warren, Jon Tester, Tammy Baldwin, Sherrod Brown, Maria Cantwell and Amy Klobuchar along with Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Dems. The losing senatorial candidates it backed were Heidi Heitkamp, Claire McCaskill, Phil Bredesen, Joe Donnelly and Bill Nelson,...