The Washington Post’s Cecilia Kang reports this morning that Kevin Martin, the Federal Communications Commission chairman, is okay with a merger between XM and Sirius. The companies are not just the two biggest in satellite radio, but the only two in the market. FCC originally allowed XM and ...

The Federal Communications Commission is considering whether to get companies to bid on providing free internet service. The Wall Street Journal’s Amy Schatz reports that the FCC might auction off parts of the airwaves to internet service providers “with the stipulation that a portion of the network be set aside ...

The Justice Department yesterday said “Why not?” to the merger between XM and Sirius, the two biggest satellite-radio services. The consolidation awaits Federal Communications Commission approval, but the Washington Post’s Peter Whoriskey and Kim Hart report that the FCC is almost certain to give the green ...

An invaluable public resource may disappear in the next few days.  The FCC is preparing to auction off radio spectrum at a key moment in communications history -- when wireless and web-based technologies could finally converge to allow you, wherever you are, to do all your Internet and voice communications from one device, with a dependable signal, on whatever phone or laptop or PDA you want to use, and at a lower price.  But then again, maybe not -- the FCC has structured the auction in a way that may prevent all this from happening. 

Kevin Martin, FCC Chairman is raising industry hackles due to his unexpected willingness to regulate cable television and radio.  He has surprised industry reps who expected a more straightforward pro-business stance from a Bush appointee.  Cable TV companies, in particular Comcast, have objected to his call for companies to have ...

The FCC is meeting today to consider changing cable television regulations, giving consumers more flexibility in choosing channels and smaller content providers with cheaper rates for access to allotted channels.  The Associated Press delivers this summary, and Marketplace's John Dimsdale reports on Big Cable's response:  apparently, ...

The federal-state board that oversees a $7 billion industry-provided fund for low-income and rural telephony has proposed splitting the fund into three different applications, Corey Boles of the Wall Street Journal reports.  One-third would be used to increase broadband Internet accesss in rural areas, with the remainder devoted ...

Remember when half of U.S. media outlets weren't owned by an Australian-born billionaire, and the other half by a handful of faceless corporations?  That was before the FCC pushed through new media ownership rules without public involvement, as they seem poised to do once again.

As television broadcasters turn to digital signals, broadcast spectrum is opening up and the FCC is getting ready to auction access to that spectrum to the highest bidder for use in wireless services.  The question is, who can use the spectrum?  Will only certain companies and their ...