Federal Communications Commission

The Supreme Court this week may reopen for the first time in more than 30 years the debate over what qualifies as an "indecent" broadcast. The media environment has changed dramatically since 1978, when the court last ruled on this issue: Today's viewers and listeners are exposed to the more freewheeling cable TV, Internet and "shock jocks" on satellite radio.

The nation's chief telecommunications regulator on Wednesday reiterated the Obama administration's call for rules to ensure the free flow of Internet traffic, regardless of whether the data traveled over wired Internet connections or over wireless cellular networks. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, in a speech to wireless-industry executives attending the CTIA conference here, said the administration's goal in creating rules would be to eliminate "confusion" over the nation's so-called net neutrality policy, which has existed as a guideline rather than a mandate.

AT&T Inc., Verizon Wireless and Google Inc. won clearance Monday to bid for airwaves in a U.S. government auction next week, a sale that aims to spur advances in mobile phones and may raise as much as $15 billion. Vulcan Spectrum Management Inc., the company backed by Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen, and MetroPCS Communications Inc. also are among the 214 qualified bidders, the Federal Communications Commission said. The auction pits AT&T and Verizon, the two biggest U.S.

Top bidders put up a total of almost $2.78 billion Thursday in the opening rounds of the Federal Communications Commission's auction of U.S. government-owned airwaves. The figure represents the highest bids received for five blocks of spectrum at the beginning of the auction, which is eventually expected to net the federal government at least $10 billion. Companies qualified to bid include major carriers AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless, as well as possible new competitors such as Google Inc.

The Federal Communications Commission said Friday that it planned to fine Walt Disney Co.'s ABC network $1.4 million for airing an episode of "NYPD Blue" in 2003 that showed a woman's nude buttocks. The company said it opposed the fine and planned to appeal. The FCC said it was seeking $27,500 for each of 52 stations in the Central and Mountain time zones that aired the scene in the 9 to 10 p.m. time slot in violation of federal restrictions against broadcasting "obscene material" between 6 a.m.

Broadcaster Lowell "Bud" Paxson on Friday contradicted statements from Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign that the senator did not meet with Paxson or his lobbyist Vicki Iseman before sending two controversial letters to the Federal Communications Commission on Paxson's behalf. Paxson said he talked with McCain (R-Ariz.) in his Washington office several weeks before McCain wrote the 1999 letters urging a rapid decision on Paxson's quest to acquire a Pittsburgh television station.

Federal regulators said Monday that they were prepared to discipline Internet service providers that secretly favored certain types of data traffic, like Web surfing, over others, like file sharing. At a hearing over allegations of traffic discrimination by Comcast Corp., the Federal Communications Commission chairman said the complaints underscored the need to enforce the FCC's current broad principles intended to promote so-called net neutrality.

Comcast Corp. on Tuesday acknowledged hiring people to fill seats before the start of a contentious federal hearing on how the company manages its broadband network, allowing its employees to take those seats when the hearing started. Many people were turned away before Monday's Federal Communications Commission hearing at Harvard Law School, leading critics to accuse Comcast of stifling debate over the company's practice of favoring some forms of Internet traffic over others.

The highest bidder in the multibillion-dollar sale of prime airwaves disclosed its plans for the wireless spectrum Friday, and the most prominent loser explained why it was still a big winner. A day after rules prohibiting participants in the federal government's online auction from discussing their strategies lifted, Verizon Wireless said it would use the new capacity to roll out faster wireless Internet service by 2010. Verizon outbid Google Inc., paying $4.

As federal judges consider pivotal cases about what constitutes offensive TV and radio broadcasts, an expletive might best describe the state of the federal government's enforcement of indecency rules. It's all bleeped-up. Thousands of viewer and listener complaints about programs are backed up at the Federal Communications Commission, where officials acknowledge the legal limbo has tied their hands. The FCC is reluctant to rule on these cases until the U.S.