President Donald Trump unveiled a U.S. national security strategy Monday that includes a commitment to “improve America’s digital infrastructure by deploying a secure 5G Internet capability nationwide.” A White House report on the strategy briefly mentions its 5G deployment proposal to “increase national competitiveness, benefit the environment, and improve our quality of life.” House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said she's “encouraged to hear the president’s national security strategy includes a pledge to deploy 5G wireless services nationwide.” House Communications held a hearing on 5G last month amid discussions about a draft bill from Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, that would encourage deployments by easing siting requirements (see 1710310057, 1711160058 and 1711240024). Lawmakers “will continue to work to unleash spectrum and support the development of 5G networks,” Blackburn said in a statement. “The 5G revolution is here, and I look forward to working alongside the administration to ensure America remains a leader in technology and innovation.” CTIA is “pleased” Trump’s strategy “acknowledges the critical importance of next-generation 5G wireless to maintaining America’s competitiveness,” said President Meredith Baker. “We are locked in a race with countries such as China and Russia to be the first to deploy 5G. To win this race we need government to make more spectrum available to industry and modernize the rules governing the deployment of wireless infrastructure.”
House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., urged committee Republican leaders Friday to hold a hearing on Disney’s proposed $66.1 billion deal to buy 21st Century Fox assets (see 1712140003 and 1712140038). “We have a responsibility to understand the potential effect of this merger on consumers and the media marketplace,” Pallone said in a letter to House Commerce Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore. The committee’s “oversight into these proposed mergers has been lacking. Despite repeated calls from Democratic members, this Committee has not had a single hearing to look at the changing video marketplace in more than four years.” It's “been over two years since the Committee held a hearing on the current state of ownership in the broadcast industry,” Pallone said, asking to “make it a priority in 2018 to seriously examine all of the issues related to the video marketplace" including Disney/Fox. House Commerce didn’t comment. The White House weighing in positively on Disney/Fox points to politics "playing a central role in anti-trust decision-making," BTIG's Rich Greenfield wrote investors Friday, saying President Donald Trump's differing views on CNN and Fox News are reflected in the administration's views of the proposed AT&T/Time Warner and Disney/Fox. The analyst said Disney/Fox poses "obvious and far more threatening consumer harm" in the form of higher consumer prices, fatter video bundles and reduced upstart virtual MVPD and subscription VOD competition. He said those issues exist in AT&T/TW, but "they are far less certain." Wells Fargo's Marci Ryvicker wrote investors that Disney/Fox should close in 12 to 18 months, pending regulatory review, as others have said (see 1712140038). "And Trump seems to be a fan," she said. The White House on Thursday said Trump congratulated Fox Executive Chairman Rupert Murdoch on the proposed deal and believes it "could be a great thing for jobs." DOJ didn't comment.
President Donald Trump didn't mention the FCC's vote to rescind its 2015 net neutrality rules (see 1712140039) during a Thursday speech but touted the federal government's overall success in cutting regulations during his first year in office. Trump set a goal upon taking office in January for federal agencies to cut two rules for every one they added and not to add any additional regulatory costs. Agencies have instead eliminated 22 regulations for every one they added, the White House said. “We beat our goal by a lot," Trump said. "Instead of adding costs as so many” other presidential administrations have done, “for the first time in decades, we achieved regulatory savings. Hasn't happened in many decades. We blew our target out of the water.” The White House is setting a goal for federal agencies to take three deregulatory actions in FY 2018 for every rule it adds.
President Donald Trump signed off Friday on a Congress-passed continuing resolution to fund the federal government through Dec. 22. The Senate cleared the funding measure 81-14 Thursday. The House passed it earlier Thursday, soon after the FCC released its government shutdown plan (see 1712070071).
NTIA is developing policy recommendation to fight the rise in botnets, to be presented in a report to be delivered to the president in January, Evelyn Remaley, deputy associate administrator, said on a Practising Law Institute panel Thursday. IoT vulnerabilities have the attention of global businesses and governments, Remaley said: “We’re trying to get ahead of this but not stop innovation.” Response to global cybersecurity threats demands continuing commitment to the multistakeholder process, providing flexible options for industry and government, the panel heard. “We’re at an inflection point,” said Wilkinson Barker attorney Clete Johnson, an architect of National Institute of Standards and Technology's Cybersecurity Framework. Large-scale data breaches like at Equifax, growth in the number of distributed denial of service attacks fueled by botnets (see 1711210047), and increasing vulnerabilities in IoT devices are threats, he said. "We should be trying to increase the quality and security of IoT devices, and build security in at the outset of production,” said Eric Wenger, Cisco cybersecurity and privacy director-global government affairs. Cybersecurity is the only domain “where we ask companies to secure themselves,” said Kiersten Todt, Cyber Readiness Institute managing director. “We continue to use traditional frameworks and shoehorn them into a new landscape.” Todt, who worked in the Obama administration’s cybersecurity commission, said one of the “greatest risks” to national security is the amount of data stored after it’s outdated with no clear deletion procedures. “As America grapples with its cybersecurity challenges, it’s important to note that Europe has taken a different approach on privacy and cybersecurity standards," said Rudy Brioche, Comcast vice president-global public and policy counsel. Wenger said the rise of competing legal security and privacy standards isn't helpful to companies working globally, which is why global multistakeholder work is critical. Other PLI news: 1712070063 and 1712070047.
There was “every reason to believe” that President Donald Trump would sign Thursday the Senate-provided paperwork on its confirmation of David Redl as NTIA administrator, House Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., said during a House Communications Subcommittee 5G hearing (see 1711160058). Trump needed to sign the Senate paperwork before it could be transmitted to the Department of Commerce and Redl can be sworn in. Walden and House Communications Chairman Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., marked the Thursday hearing as Redl's likely last hearing as House Commerce's chief GOP telecom counsel. They both also chided the Senate for the length of time it took to confirm Redl. The chamber confirmed him earlier this month on a voice vote (see 1711070084 and 1711070076). The confirmation was delayed by holds placed first by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and then Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii (see 1710040063, 1710230026, 1710230062, 1710300028 and 1711080015). The White House and NTIA didn't comment.
DOJ antitrust chief Makan Delrahim and President Donald Trump deny White House involvement in the agency's review of AT&T's planned buy of Time Warner. Delrahim in a statement Wednesday said he has "never been instructed by the White House on this or any other transaction under review by the antitrust division." An White House in an accompanying statement said, "The President did not speak with the Attorney General about this matter, and no White House official was authorized to speak with the Department of Justice on this matter.” Justice was reportedly pushing for a divestiture of Turner Networks or of DirecTV as a condition of approving AT&T/TW (see 1711080047). Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel tweeted Wednesday that if the DOJ is using antitrust law to force a sale of Turner's CNN because of opinions of its coverage, "You can dislike consolidation but still find this extremely disturbing if true." Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., said the deal shouldn't go forward because of media consolidation worries, but signs the Trump administration is trying to attack media organizations it doesn't like would be "profoundly disturbing." Other Senate Democrats also raised new questions about the DOJ's independence from Trump given the AT&T/TW review demands, including House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii. “Any suggestion that the deal be conditioned on selling off a news channel because of its coverage is offensive to both the First Amendment and the rule of law,” said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., in a statement. Dish Network's CEO voiced concerns Thursday about AT&T/TW (see 1711090004). DOJ, meanwhile, said “there is no legal obligation” for Antitrust Division head Makan Delrahim to recuse himself from involvement in the department's review of AT&T/TW based on earlier comments he made that the proposed merge doesn't pose a “major antitrust problem,” said Assistant Attorney General-Legislative Affairs Stephen Boyd in a letter to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. Warren sought Delrahim's recusal over the comments, which she said could “undermine public confidence in the Division's ability to reach an unbiased final decision” on AT&T/TW. The full version of Delrahim's comments show he “indicated the proposed merger should and would get a full and complete review” by Antitrust, “that the review would be based on the law and the facts,'” Boyd said. “We can assure you that [Antitrust's] merger enforcement will be based on application of the law to the particular facts and circumstances presented by any proposed merger.”
Time Warner stock closed down 6.5 percent to $88.50 Wednesday after reports (here and here) DOJ was pushing for divestiture of Turner Networks or of DirecTV as conditions on AT&T's proposed $108.7 billion buy of the programmer. AT&T Chief Financial Officer John Stephens told investors it's in active discussions with Justice, but "timing of the closing of the deal is now uncertain." Separately in a statement, CEO Randall Stephenson said that throughout DOJ's review of the deal, "I have never offered to sell CNN and have no intention of doing so.” Turner's assets include CNN. AT&T had expected to close on TW by year's end (see 1711020051). Free Press said it continues to oppose AT&T/TW on media consolidation grounds, and forcing divestiture of content properties such as Turner distribution properties or DirecTV could soften those consolidation harms, but department opposition is problematic if it's based on President Donald Trump's antipathy to CNN coverage: "Everyone should agree that the government shouldn’t base antitrust decisions or FCC rulings on whether it likes a newsroom’s coverage." As a candidate for president, Trump said he opposed AT&T/TW (see 1610220002). If Justice has a problem with a vertical merger like AT&T/TW, the possibility of horizontal mergers in the sector seems "substantially lower" than previously thought, meaning a Disney move for Fox wouldn't pass muster, let alone Comcast buying Charter or any further content assets, BTIG analyst Rich Greenfield emailed investors Wednesday. He raised the specter of Comcast having to sell its NBC or Hulu ownership after the Comcast/NBCUniversal consent decree ends, saying if AT&T/TW is problematic for DOJ, "how is the former okay?" DOJ in a statement said it's "committed to carrying out its duties in accordance with the laws and the facts." Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker, in an email to investors, said there are no potential buyers for DirecTV, but CNN could command $8 billion to $10 billion and be a strategic fit with CBS. She also said while there's now "a really uncertain spell on M&A in general," Discovery/Scripps Network and Sinclair/Tribune are likely not at risk.
President Donald Trump’s blocking of Twitter followers is unconstitutional, the Electronic Frontier Foundation said in an amicus brief filed Monday supporting the Knight First Amendment Institute’s July 11 suit against Trump and his communications team in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The suit complains that Trump and his team violated the First Amendment rights of seven followers of @realDonaldTrump who posted criticisms. Denying certain users access to policy announcements and debates that are widely disseminated on social media hinders the public’s ability to monitor the performance of government officials, EFF said.
Broadcom CEO Hock Tan announced Thursday he's moving co-headquarters to Delaware from Singapore. Broadcom already operates co-headquarters in San Jose but also operated in Singapore after its 2016 purchase of Avago Technologies. President Donald Trump joined Tan in making the White House announcement, which Tan said came because “business conditions have steadily improved.” Broadcom “will invest more than $3 billion in R&D and $6 billion in manufacturing, creating many high-paying jobs,” Tan said. “More than $20 billion in annual revenue will come back to our cities, towns, and the American workers,” Trump said.