Federal Communications Commission

On September 21, 2022, the Federal Communications Commission announced a proposed combined fine of $3.4 million against Sinclair Broadcast Group, Nexstar Media Group and 19 other broadcast television licensees for violations of rules limiting commercial matter in children’s television programming.
Continue Reading FCC Proposes $3.4 Million in Fines for Violations of Children’s TV Programming Rules

As reported on the Hunton Retail Resource Blog, on October 20, 2021, a new wave in the fight against “robocalls” is targeting telemarketing text messages. In the past six months, there has been an uptick in activity at both the state and federal level to reign in telemarketing text messages.
Continue Reading Fight Against Robocalls Is Coming for Telemarketing Text Messages

The meaning of an “automatic telephone dialing system” (“ATDS”) as defined by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) has been hotly contested since the D.C. Circuit invalidated the prior Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) rulings interpreting the TCPA in 2018. The Ninth Circuit has held that merely calling numbers from a stored list is sufficient to meet the definition of an ATDS, while the Third Circuit has at least indicated that the ability to generate numbers randomly or sequentially is the defining characteristic.
Continue Reading Good News for TCPA Defendants

On February 26, 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in an en banc decision that the “common carrier” exception in the Federal Trade Commission Act is “activity-based,” and therefore applies only to the extent a common carrier is engaging in common carrier services.
Continue Reading Ninth Circuit Decision Bolsters FTC Authority Over Internet Service Providers

Recently, the FTC and FCC announced their intent to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding under which the agencies would coordinate their efforts following the adoption the Restoring Internet Freedom Order. If adopted, the Order would repeal the rules put in place by the FCC in 2015 that prohibit high-speed internet service providers from stopping or slowing down the delivery of websites and from charging customers extra fees for high-quality streaming and other services.
Continue Reading FTC and FCC Announce Cooperation on Repeal of Net Neutrality Rules

Recently, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai released a draft of the Restoring Internet Freedom Order. If adopted, the Order would repeal the rules put in place by the FCC in 2015 that prohibit high-speed internet service providers from stopping or slowing down the delivery of websites and from charging customers extra fees for high-quality streaming and other services.
Continue Reading FCC Releases Plan to Repeal Net Neutrality Rules