Showing archive for: “Telecom”
Nexstar-Tegna and the Problem of Double-Secret Merger Review: Why Antitrust Should Trump ‘Public Interest’
The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) recently sent a second request to Nexstar Media Group and Tegna Inc. seeking additional information about their proposed $6.2 billion merger. This request extends the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act waiting period by 30 days, pending the companies’ compliance. According to a securities filing, the two television-station ownership groups anticipate their planned merger ... Nexstar-Tegna and the Problem of Double-Secret Merger Review: Why Antitrust Should Trump ‘Public Interest’
First Amendment Jurisprudence Should Reflect Economic Reality: Why Red Lion and Pacifica Must Fall
The U.S. legal landscape is riddled with anachronisms, but few are as indefensible and economically nonsensical as the justifications for regulating broadcast content. This bizarre notion that radio and television broadcasters deserve fewer First Amendment protections than newspapers, websites, or cable networks is a vestige of mid-20th-century technological reasoning that has long overstayed its constitutional ... First Amendment Jurisprudence Should Reflect Economic Reality: Why Red Lion and Pacifica Must Fall
Broadcast, Cable, and Creative Destruction: What This Year’s Nobel Teaches Us About Cord Cutting
The timing could hardly be better. As traditional television continues on its years-long decline—with millions of cable subscribers cutting the cord, broadcast audiences shrinking, and streaming splintering into a dozen rival platforms—this year’s Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences has gone to three scholars who have spent their careers studying this very kind of market ... Broadcast, Cable, and Creative Destruction: What This Year’s Nobel Teaches Us About Cord Cutting
A Clean Slate Approach to Broadcast Regulation
The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) recently issued notice calling for a review of the agency’s broadcast-ownership rules raises a foundational question: what purpose do these rules serve in a world of digital abundance? Indeed, FCC Chair Brendan Carr has observed the fundamental changes in how broadcasters compete in a marketplace of “numerous online audio and ... A Clean Slate Approach to Broadcast Regulation
‘Optimal Departures from Marginal Cost Pricing’ by William J. Baumol & David F. Bradford
William Baumol and David Bradford’s 1970 article “Optimal Departures from Marginal Cost Pricing” is a cornerstone in the economics of public utility regulation. While it appeared in the American Economic Review as a work of formal economic theory—complete with equations and proofs—it also has clear significance for law & economics. Baumol and Bradford demonstrate how ... ‘Optimal Departures from Marginal Cost Pricing’ by William J. Baumol & David F. Bradford
The FCC’s Broadcast-Ownership Review: Will the Agency Open the Door for Comprehensive Reform?
On the docket for this week’s meeting of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on broadcast-ownership rules, which just so happens to arrive amid a profound shift in the industry’s content-distribution model from broadcast to streaming. Streaming services now command nearly half of all U.S. television viewing, while local ... The FCC’s Broadcast-Ownership Review: Will the Agency Open the Door for Comprehensive Reform?
Your Local News Anchors Might Welcome Their New Corporate Overlords
When late-night show Jimmy Kimmel Live! came back from its temporary “break,” viewers in many markets discovered something odd: Kimmel wasn’t back on their local stations. In markets with ABC affiliates owned by media giants Sinclair and Nexstar, stations skipped the show entirely, substituting their own content instead. This incident highlights a bigger question that ... Your Local News Anchors Might Welcome Their New Corporate Overlords
Kimmel, Coercion, and the Public Interest Standard: The Problem of Boundless Government Power
Talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension by ABC following pushback from affiliate stations about comments he made Sept. 15 about the alleged killer of Charlie Kirk has been major news. The timing of the decisions by affiliate groups Nexstar and Sinclair to preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! from their programming schedule was noteworthy, in that both came ... Kimmel, Coercion, and the Public Interest Standard: The Problem of Boundless Government Power
Scale or Fail: Why Paramount Skydance’s Warner Bros Gambit Makes Economic Sense
Just weeks after Skydance Media completed its acquisition of Paramount Global, the new company is reportedly preparing a majority cash bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) in its entirety, including its cable networks and movie studio. A Skydance-Warner combination could reshape the global entertainment landscape. Backed by Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison’s substantial family ... Scale or Fail: Why Paramount Skydance’s Warner Bros Gambit Makes Economic Sense
US and EU Clash on Promoting Space Commerce and Innovation
Commercial competition in outer space is expected to grow rapidly, with major economic benefits, including lowered costs, increased innovation, and the development of new industries. The proposed European Union Space Act, however, threatens to undermine beneficial competition by imposing new regulatory burdens on firms, especially U.S. satellite operators. In contrast, the Trump administration is acting ... US and EU Clash on Promoting Space Commerce and Innovation
Foreign Trade Barriers Threaten American Space Dominance
A recently issued White House executive order aims to boost competition and innovation in America’s commercial space industry by cutting state and federal red tape, and by streamlining the permitting and licensure process for launching and receiving spacecraft. Across the pond in the European Union (EU), however, new legislation that unduly singles out U.S. companies ... Foreign Trade Barriers Threaten American Space Dominance
The EU Proposes a DMA for Space
The European Union has a well-established playbook for regulating industries dominated by U.S. firms: Identify a market where American companies are global leaders; Draft sweeping legislation grounded in vague principles like “fairness” or “sustainability”; and Create a regulatory structure that imposes disproportionate burdens on the largest and most successful (and usually foreign) companies. The EU’s ... The EU Proposes a DMA for Space
