National Broadband Plan

Full D8 Video: FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski

Kara Swisher in D8 on July 6, 2010 at 6:14 am PT

As promised, All Things Digital is posting the full videos from our eighth D: All Things Digital conference, held in early June. Today, it’s the session with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, who is trying to implement an ambitious digital agenda for the government agency.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski at D8: Trying to Get U.S. Broadband Up to Speed

John Paczkowski in D8 on June 2, 2010 at 1:15 pm PT

It has been a tough spring for Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski. In April, a federal appeals court found that the FCC had overstepped its bounds when it censured Comcast for violating its net neutrality principles and in so doing, called into question the agency’s authority to regulate the Internet. And in May, 282 members of Congress, from both political parties, petitioned Genachowski to suspend the FCC’s plans to reclassify broadband as a telecommunications service, a move that would put broadband under the agency’s purview and clarify its jurisdiction once and for all.

FCC Takes a Jab at Verizon CEO Over Spectrum

Niraj Sheth, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on April 8, 2010 at 4:05 pm PT

For the FCC, it’s starting to get personal. The agency took a rare shot at Verizon Communications CEO Ivan Seidenberg on Thursday, calling him out by name for comments earlier this week that cast doubt on whether carriers need as much spectrum as the government wants to give them.

Court Rules Against FCC in Comcastic Net Neutrality Decision

John Paczkowski in News on April 6, 2010 at 8:34 am PT

In the end, the federal appeals court reviewing the Federal Communications Commission’s sanctions against Comcast was as skeptical of the FCC’s authority to issue them as Comcast itself. This morning, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the agency overstepped its bounds when it censured Comcast for interfering with peer-to-peer traffic on its network.

Weekend Update 3/20/10–The Broadband Plan Edition

Beth Callaghan in News on March 20, 2010 at 8:13 pm PT

BoomTown traveled to Washington, D.C., this week for festivities surrounding the 25th anniversary of the registration of the first .com domain name, and while in our nation’s capital, lugged a giant binder containing a paper printout of the National Broadband Plan to various historic spots for educational opportunities.

The FCC's National Broadband Paper Plan Gets a BoomTown Tour of the Nation's Capital!

Kara Swisher in News on March 20, 2010 at 12:19 am PT

When BoomTown went to Washington, D.C., last week to visit the Federal Communications Commission on the occasion of its release of the National Broadband Plan, I was actually given a paper version in a giant binder. Yes, at hundreds of pages, a dead-tree copy of a federal scheme to make the United States more digital! So, natch, I gave it a tour of the nation’s capital.

Tweet the People: Twitter VC Wilson and Federal CTO Chopra Talk Policy in D.C.

Kara Swisher in News on March 17, 2010 at 5:15 am PT

Ms. BoomTown went to Washington, D.C., this week to moderate a panel that looked at the future of the digital arena for an event marking the 25th anniversary of the .com domain. Surprisingly, the panelists did not talk about geo-location jet packs and augmented reality for everyone. Instead, due to their proximity to pols and government bureaucrats, they went wonkish.

BoomTown in D.C. to Say Happy 25th Birthday to .Com and Wary Hello to Broadband Plan

Kara Swisher in News on March 15, 2010 at 7:54 am PT

Last night, I jetted east to Washington, D.C., for an unusual confluence of events: The 25th anniversary of the .com Internet domain name and the Federal Communications Commission’s release of the National Broadband Plan. Both are set for tomorrow in the nation’s capital and both concern the impact of the Web on the United States in the past and the future. And after a quarter-century, let’s hope the federal government finally starts to take the Internet seriously.

If It's Tuesday, It Must Be the National Broadband Plan–If Your Connection Isn't Too Slow, You Can Tune In Online

Kara Swisher in News on March 11, 2010 at 11:33 am PT

Finally, after much advance leakage, the Federal Communications Commission will unveil its National Broadband Plan on Tuesday, March 16. The two key questions about the effort to get the United States up to speed, so to speak, with decent digital access: Will it be toothless or not and will there be any money to pay for it, given the cash-strapped federal government? And, of course, will the greedy telecoms quash the plan if it is too helpful to consumers?

FCC Eyes Average Internet Speeds for Rural Areas

Amy Schatz, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on December 21, 2009 at 3:06 pm PT

With two months to go until the FCC is scheduled to unveil its plan for improving broadband service across the U.S., agency officials seem to be settling on relatively modest speeds for rural areas. Officials at the Federal Communications Commission looking at setting a floor for Internet speed to which all Americans have access, particularly in rural areas which still rely on dial-up Internet service.