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A divided Federal Communications Commission on Thursday grappled further with the thorny issue of how to relieve increasing online congestion, disagreeing sharply over whether government regulations are needed.
Federal regulators approved a plan late Wednesday to create a nationwide emergency alert system using text messages delivered to cell phones
Cell phone users will get text message alerts of emergencies under a new nationwide alert system approved late Wednesday by the Federal Communications Commission, according to FCC spokesman Robert Kenny.
A nationwide alert system will use cell phones or other mobile devices to send text messages to Americans when an emergency occurs, the Federal Communications Commission will announce Wednesday, according to an FCC representative.
Government lawyers Friday sued FOX Television and eight of its stations to force payment of FCC fines imposed for broadcasting "titillating and shocking" sexually oriented material during prime time.
The U.S. Justice Department approved the merger between satellite radio companies Sirius and XM Monday, more than a year after the two companies first announced their deal.
The merger of satellite radio services XM and Sirius, an improbable deal that stalled in Washington for a year, is now facing impending approval.
The Justice Department approved Sirius Satellite Radio's $5 billion buyout of rival XM Satellite Radio on Monday, saying the deal was unlikely to hurt competition or consumers
The two largest cell phone companies dominated bidding in a record-setting government airwaves auction, according to results released Thursday
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to jump back into the free speech debate over whether broadcast television networks should be penalized for indecent or vulgar language that slips through inadvertently on a live or unscripted broadcast.
A divided Federal Communications Commission on Thursday grappled further with the thorny issue of how to relieve increasing online congestion, disagreeing sharply over whether government regulations are needed.
Federal regulators approved a plan late Wednesday to create a nationwide emergency alert system using text messages delivered to cell phones
Cell phone users will get text message alerts of emergencies under a new nationwide alert system approved late Wednesday by the Federal Communications Commission, according to FCC spokesman Robert Kenny.
A nationwide alert system will use cell phones or other mobile devices to send text messages to Americans when an emergency occurs, the Federal Communications Commission will announce Wednesday, according to an FCC representative.
Government lawyers Friday sued FOX Television and eight of its stations to force payment of FCC fines imposed for broadcasting "titillating and shocking" sexually oriented material during prime time.
The U.S. Justice Department approved the merger between satellite radio companies Sirius and XM Monday, more than a year after the two companies first announced their deal.
The merger of satellite radio services XM and Sirius, an improbable deal that stalled in Washington for a year, is now facing impending approval.
The Justice Department approved Sirius Satellite Radio's $5 billion buyout of rival XM Satellite Radio on Monday, saying the deal was unlikely to hurt competition or consumers
The two largest cell phone companies dominated bidding in a record-setting government airwaves auction, according to results released Thursday
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to jump back into the free speech debate over whether broadcast television networks should be penalized for indecent or vulgar language that slips through inadvertently on a live or unscripted broadcast.
The stalled merger between satellite radio duo XM and Sirius has suddenly lurched into the unknown as Wall Street continues to wait for a verdict from regulators.
Happy Presidents' Day! Since the U.S. markets are closed, businesses don't usually make big announcements on this holiday.
In 2004, President Bush pledged that all Americans should have affordable access to high-speed Internet service by 2007. A report to be released Thursday by the administration says it has succeeded -- mostly
The FCC's auction of rights to a huge chunk of radio airwaves invites new players to the telecom game. If Google bids big, it could mean open wireless access for all
U.S. stocks, after slipping into a correction, opened Tuesday on the upside as investors watched oil prices fall and weighed news that a Middle East government was investing $7.5 billion in embattled Citigroup.
U.S. stocks appeared poised for recovery Tuesday after sinking into a correction the previous session, as investors watched oil prices fall and weighed news that a Middle East government was investing $7.5 billion in embattled Citigroup.
Shareholders approved a deal Tuesday to allow Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. to acquire its rival XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. for about $5 billion
A report by the Federal Communications Commission will show that cable TV companies have met a subscriber saturation point that may lead to the agency exerting greater regulatory authority over the industry.
CBS Corp. should not be fined for the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show that ended with Janet Jackson's breast-baring "wardrobe malfunction" because the stunt was both fleeting and unauthorized, a lawyer for the company argued Tuesday.
Apple may bid for the rights to a wireless spectrum auctioned by the Federal Communications Commission, a risky but intriguing move that would help carry the consumer electronics company into the telecommunications realm.
On his long commute to the office, George Doty snakes through Houston, Texas, accompanied only by the two satellite radios on the dashboard of his Chevrolet pickup truck and the hum of whatever he has playing.
What was good for our country was good for General Motors, and vice versa. - Charles E. Wilson, president of GM, 1953
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday voted to shake up the wireless market by approving a set of ground-rules for a big airwaves auction that would require the winner to make them accessible to any cell phone, device or application.
Satellite radio providers Sirius and XM said Monday they can offer consumers a variety of subscription packages that cost up to 46 percent less than current plans if their merger is approved.
It has been nearly five months since Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio announced plans to merge. But the likelihood of the deal passing regulatory muster is still highly uncertain, leaving investors in an uncomfortable state of limbo.
Fearing a legislative push from Democrats to "fix" conservative-dominated radio shows, Republicans are starting to fight back
Don Imus, the tousled and acerbic radio host whose racial remarks engendered a media storm that triggered a swift upending of his career, is not going away quietly even if the imbroglio has all but disappeared from the national conversation in the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre.
If you are more than about 45 years old, you probably can't forget when you first heard a 1972 monologue by comedian George Carlin titled "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television." Ordinarily w...
The crackdown on broadcast indecency that began with an exposed breast turns out to have legs - as well as serious consequences for the television business.
Mario Gabelli is doing what he does best: talking.
It's a nightmare for any electronics maker planning a splashy launch: Key technical details and photos of the gadget show up on the Web prior to its premier. But Danger Research, the designer of the popular Sidekick smartphone, doesn't have a disgruntled employee to blame for the leak: It turns out the Federal Communications Commission published details of the new Sidekick III on its website, as it does with all new wireless devices that run on FCC licensed airwaves, unless manufacturers request confidentiality. Ironically, the FCC also published the request for confidentiality that Danger's manufacturing partner, Sharp, filed along with the photos.
Every Sunday morning, The New York Times lands on my driveway with a thud. I customarily discard the Styles section (no interest in weddings), the Travel section (no vacations being planned) and the Sports section (dull, dull, dull). But it never occurred to me -- until now -- to call up the people at The Times to tell them that I would like to buy only certain sections of the newspaper and not others. And if The Times were to tell me the paper is an all-or-nothing deal, well, maybe I should ask my Congressman to require The New York Times Co. to sell its newspapers a la carte.
Almost half of cell-phone users feel hemmed in by the hefty fees they face for early termination of their contracts, according to a new survey from a consumer advocacy group.
What can you say about 2004?
On Oct. 13, 1983, Bob Barnett, an executive at Ameritech, the erstwhile Baby Bell, sat in a car parked outside Soldier Field in Chicago and made the country's first commercial cellular phone call. ...
Indecent material broadcast on Howard Stern's radio show may cost six Clear Channel stations a total of $495,000, the Federal Communication Commission said Thursday, prompting the radio chain to drop Stern's show from six stations.
You recall the famous experiment in which researchers offered marshmallows to 4-year-olds. One by one each child was brought into a room, given a single marshmallow, and told he could eat it. But, ...
Worried about media concentration? Don't be. But do be worried about what's happening in media. To see why, look past the FCC's latest decision allowing media mammoths to grow even bigger, and cons...
ECONOMY Look Who's Hiring
So much for consumer choice. The Federal Communications Commission has turned its back on the public by abandoning rules that require the Baby Bells to accommodate competition in broadband services...
Ed Whitacre Jr. is a telecom lifer. The six-foot-four Texan has worked at SBC Communications for close to 40 years, starting in 1963, when he joined the Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. as a facilit...
The Federal Communications Commission, the sleepy government agency perhaps best known for fining radio shock jocks, is grabbing headlines. Aside from the FCC's EchoStar decision, which roiled the ...
From Washington ...
Even for a time of bitter harvests in Silicon Valley, longtime tech executive Eric Benhamou has had a particularly frustrating year. Benhamou is chairman of 3Com, a producer of data-networking gear...
Michael Powell got lots of unsolicited advice when President Clinton appointed him to the Federal Communications Commission in 1998. He was, after all, just four years out of law school, a burly ch...
It takes a lot of work to find the Federal Communications Commission. You have to trudge south from the National Mall and pass eight other sprawling, squat buildings until you reach the one that ho...
If there's anything a baby hates, it's the arrival of a newer, cuter baby. For some, that day never comes; but for the Baby Bells (and let's face it, they're not getting any younger) the time is he...
Since the telephone industry was deregulated three years ago, $4 billion worth of new fees have shown up on our bills, according to Consumers Union. The latest: a charge for an option most of us do...
The Federal Communications Commission is taking stronger steps to prevent companies from changing your phone carrier behind your back, a.k.a. slamming. Come mid-April, a firm can legally switch you...
Have you ever noticed a rogue $5 calling-card charge from an obscure long-distance company on your phone bill? If so, you're not alone. Over the past three years, the Federal Communications Commiss...
Two years ago, Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 with assurances that deregulation would result in lower rates for telephone service and cable TV. The law's co-author, then-Sen. La...
Whoever said "bigger is better" has never carried a cellular phone around--or even shopped for one lately. But the big news in cellular phones this year is not their decreasing size, or even their ...
Q. My wife and I retired three years ago, at age 50. Now we spend most of our time cruising the East Coast and the Bahamas in our sailboat. We love the itinerant life so much that we plan to sell o...
CALLERS TO OUR NATIONAL RADIO SHOW AS WELL as securities regulators we've recently interviewed reveal the same thing: Americans are losing hundreds of millions of dollars in three growing investmen...
IF SUPERMAN RAN INTO A PHONE BOOTH today to change clothes, he'd be lucky to get out with his shirt. Consumer complaints about pay-phone scams have been arriving at the Federal Communications Commi...
Look at those self-absorbed profligates, those yuppies strolling through the airport with cellular phones sutured to their jaws. Do you find yourself harboring uncharitable thoughts? Is your disdai...
Ever since game theory was invented half a century ago, people have been prophesying that it was about to revolutionize economics and management. It's easy to see why. One definition of it--the stu...
REMEMBER not so long ago when no one had a personal computer, and roller skates had metal wheels, and there was only one telephone company and everybody hated it? Simpler times, simpler feelings. T...
Before slamming your phone down when a long-distance carrier calls to describe its latest fee plan, be sure that you haven't gotten slammed yourself. Despite 1991 Federal Communications Commission ...
Your basic cable-TV bill could decline by 10% after the Federal Communications Commission begins enforcing the cable law Sept. 1. If your basic bill doesn't go down by November, call your company o...
Call it the first great business showdown of the 21st century: The giants of American communications are locked in a struggle to build and control a vast web of electronic networks. These so-called...
Soon after the 1992 cable-TV law takes effect April 1, the Federal Communications Commission will issue guidelines covering the price of basic cable service, which could lower your rate by as much ...
''DADDY TOLD ME THAT WHEN I'M 65 IT'S GOING TO TAKE ALMOST $2 MILLION A YEAR TO LIVE THE WAY I DO NOW. . . . SOUNDS LIKE A LOT OF MONEY. CALL MY DADDY. SHEEN FINANCIAL GROUP WILL MAKE SURE YOUR NES...
EVER WONDER why there's no Channel 1 on your TV? Half a century ago, when TV was a baby, there was a Channel 1. But ham radio and aircraft communications on adjoining frequencies caused serious int...
Ruby Jean and Tolbert Moore, owners of Santa Rosa Beauty College, were winners in one of the richest lotteries ever held. So, as part of a syndicate, was Ernest Borgnine, the actor. In the lottery,...
In the ludicrous congressional hearings that recently culminated in House and Senate passage of the Children's Television Act, our own favorite moment was supplied by Senator J. James Exon, Democra...
Transcripts of Supreme Court proceedings often make fascinating reading, and we lead with this thought not only to mollify the business department, which shelled out over $300 so we could fascinate...
YOUR TELEPHONE company wants to wire your house with glass. Replacing your old copper telephone lines with the latest in fiber optics -- glass filaments that use lasers to transmit signals -- would...
CRITICS WERE nearly apoplectic when the Justice Department, citing antitrust laws, moved to break up the phone company. The laments echoed across America: Why mess with a telecommunications system ...
No man wields more power over any industry than Judge Harold H. Greene of the U.S. district court in Washington, D.C. He transformed the telecommunications business by approving the breakup of AT&T...
WHEN color television burst upon the world in the early 1950s, the U.S. was in the vanguard: The first commercial broadcasts used a pioneering system developed by RCA. It was the end of the decade ...
CBS INC. has long supported deregulation of the broadcast industry. But faced by the takeover threats of Ted Turner, a newly hatched corporate raider from the pygmy Turner Broadcasting System, the ...
THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS equipment market totals over $10 billion a year and is growing fast, but AT&T's share has shriveled from 75% to 35% since 1980 -- and not just because Ma Bell had to divest i...
ONE OF THE WORST things that could have happened to the television industry finally has: the financial markets have fallen in love with it. Like an Edenic resort that loses its charm as it gains po...
IT'S A SALES PITCH that should appeal to many an owner of a bar or convenience store: Why settle for a paltry 4% to 6% of the revenues from the pay phone installed on your premises by the telephone...
THOUGH AT&T now has lots of company in the U.S. telephone business, satellite communications with the rest of the world have largely remained the preserve of Washington-based Communications Satelli...
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