■ Comcast Expects Soft Q3 on Broadband Subs Compared to 2025

■ Charter Has No Regrets Spending Billions on Stock Buybacks, CEO Says

■ ACLP: New BEAD Funding Round Could Cost NTIA $9 Billion

■ CTIA Survey: Wireless Data Consumption Surged in 2025, Thanks to AI

■ Free State: Penn State Professor Wrong on Capping Retail Broadband Rates

■ Visionary Broadband Acquired by Clearwave Fiber and Point Broadband

■ Albuquerque Divided over How to Police Rogue Fiber Crews

■ FTC Democrat Slaughter Lands at NYU Law School

■ Socket Fiber Agrees to Acquire ISP Bays‑ET in Missouri

■ ImOn Fiber Network Goes Live in Duluth, Minn., Superior, Wis.

■ WOW’s ‘Online Profile Sync’ Spreads Business Updates Across Search Platforms

■ OpenVault: Smart‑Home Security Putting Stress on Upstream Path

Copper: John Stankey is starting to sound as if he’s the top executive at Freeport-McMoRan, Rio Tinto, or Grupo México. The AT&T CEO told a Goldman Sachs conference in San Francisco on Sept. 9 about the company’s effort to become an all-fiber network owner with a hugely valuable wireless network to boot. “We need to get rid of all the leases that are associated with those offices that we don’t need anymore. And oh, by the way, there’s a bunch of copper out there. It probably makes AT&T the fifth-largest copper mine in the United States right now. Seriously,” Stankey said. And AT&T plans to extract that copper and make money off it. Copper prices are up about 21% year to date, reaching record levels, according to a report by Yahoo Finance. “That copper needs to come out, it needs to be monetized. And that monetization allows us to pay for the work, to shut down all that infrastructure, rip out the main frames, and do all the things we need to do, to wind up leading this decade as a fantastic metropolitan fiber company with a kick ass wireless network,” Stankey said. (More after paywall)

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■ Telecom Analyst Roslyn Layton: Starlink Won’t Become a Major Wireless Player

■ FCC’s Gomez, Once a Foe of Fake AI Political Ads, Says Carr’s Concerns about Fake Political Polls ‘All Political Theater’

■ FCC to Open Satellite Spectrum, Cut NEPA Red Tape at Sept. 30 Meeting

■ Verizon Inks Major Fiber Purchase Agreement with Corning

■ AT&T’s Business Unit Signs ‘Strategic Agreement’ with Amazon Leo

■ Dell’Oro Group: North America Bucked the Global Decline in Q2 Broadband Equipment Revenue

■ Block Family to Shut Toledo Blade If It Can’t Find a Buyer Before 2027

■ Founder Jeff DeMond Stepping Down as CEO of Archtop Fiber

■ Hearst Television promotes John Robertson to SVP for Strategy and Distribution

■ Paul Bunyan Communications Marks Lifeline Awareness Week with FCC

■ Anthony Bowling Joins Mediacom as SVP of Field Operations Strategy

■ People: Ben Finfrock Joins Sen. Maggie Hassan’s office as the New Hampshire Democrat’s new Press Secretary

Elon: Nexstar is interested – but only after ATSC 3.0 arrives. Speaking at the Citi Global TMT Conference, Nexstar Media Group EVP and CFO Lee Ann Gliha said Sept. 8 any potential spectrum‑lease deal with Elon Musk’s Starlink must await Nexstar’s transition from ATSC 1.0 to ATSC 3.0. That could take several years – perhaps too long for the ambitious Musk, who wants to take mobile subscribers from AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon as soon as possible.

Gliha said the company’s airwaves are “a scarce resource in terms of low band spectrum and powerful low band spectrum.” She added, “We’re looking at all of the different potential opportunities for this.” Edgebeam Wireless, a joint venture among Nexstar, E.W. Scripps, Sinclair, and Gray Media, would give a partner like Starlink access to 97% of the country, avoiding any possible Swiss cheese difficulties. “If you just have a market here or market there, it’s not going to really be that exciting or that useful,” she said. (More after paywall)

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■ Penn State Professor Calls for ISP Price Caps to Address Affordability

■ CAR to Court: Disney Feels ‘Entitled to Unregulated Use of the Public Airwaves’

■ Supreme Court Backs FCC on Party Committee Access to Lowest Unit Charge

■ NFL Extends Commissioner Goodell’s Contract Through March 31, 2031

■ NRECA CEO Jim Matheson Rips NTIA over BEAD Management

■ Albuquerque Flooded with Complaints about Careless Fiber Workers

■ Times Free Press CEO: TVA Ready to Yield Benefits of AI ‘Gold Rush’

■ Tech Dirt Reporter Spreads Falsehoods about BEAD Support for LEOs

■ FCC Sends Treasury $3.08 Billion Borrowed to Fund Rip-and-Replace

■ Markey, Moulton Raised $11.5 Million Combined in 2026 for their Senate Primary

■ Gottheimer Bill Would Fund AI Labs, Teacher Training in K-12 Schools

■ About 28,000 Chicago Public Schools Students to Get Free Internet

Fake Polls: Federal regulators are preparing to warn TV and radio broadcasters about airing fake polls. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said Sept. 6 that the agency may soon issue guidance reminding stations not to air fabricated surveys, especially if the intent is voter suppression ahead of election day. He made the comments on Fox News in an interview with White House reporter Peter Doocy.

“… There’s a lot of interest right now in fake polls that are out there, and so the FCC may put guidance out soon to remind broadcasters about their obligations with respect to not airing fake polls, particularly if they’re done to suppress people heading into the fall,” Carr said.

Carr may have been referring to Median Strategies, a now‑defunct firm that released a widely reported bogus poll claiming Wisconsin Democrat Francesca Hong was leading her gubernatorial primary by 20 points just two days before the election. Hong, a Socialist, was narrowly defeated Aug. 11 by Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley. (More after paywall)

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Today’s Headlines

■ WOW! Starts Cable TV Sunset in Florida with Pivot to YouTube TV

■ NTIA to Fund New BEAD Effort That Targets Remaining Unserved Locations

■ Carr Ejects Seven Criminals from the FCC’s E-Rate Program

■ New Sanders Bill Would Ban ‘Superintelligent AI Systems’

■ Boston Media Critic Says Moulton ‘Ran a Terrible Campaign’

■ Free State’s May Says EchoStar Takes Chutzpah to Another Level

■ Left-Leaning Group Using Fuzzy Math to Diminish Thumann Severs

■ T-Mobile Names Jessica Uhl as New CFO Effective in February

■ TDS Closes on $25.4 million Purchase of Granite State Communications

■ The Ohio Telecom Association is Now the Ohio Broadband and Technology Association

■ As Expected, House Rejects Constitutional Amendment on SCOTUS Number

ABC/Disney: The FCC asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by ABC and its parent Disney, arguing the court lacks jurisdiction over the agency’s ongoing license‑renewal review. In a Sept. 3 filing submitted by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, the FCC said Disney failed to cooperate with an antidiscrimination investigation, prompting regulators to order early renewal applications for eight ABC stations under a longstanding rule. Disney is concerned that the FCC is politically biased against the company and is just one step away from seeking license revocation, though FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has said no decisions have been made in his fact-driven look at Disney’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies. (More after paywall)

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■ TDS Calls Off Bid to Acquire Remaining Shares of Array Digital

■ NTIA’s Roth to Unveil ‘Next Phase’ in BEAD Program Today in Alaska

■ Consultant Michael Wolf Says NFL Has Obvious TV Affordability Problem

■ New Street Research: Can’t Blame CFO for Charter’s Stock Dive

■ NHL Blues Go a la Carte on Amazon Prime Video

■ Carr Proposes ‘Robocall Scorecard’ as a New Consumer Info Tool

■ Grain Says Rightfiber Can Tap $1.6 billion Credit Facility

■ Mediacom’s Tapan Dandnaik to Retire as SVP of Operations,

■ Renee Wilm Stepping Down as Chief Legal Officer at GCI Parent Liberty Capital Corp.

USF: Political positioning over reform of the FCC’s Universal Service Fund continues unbated. Former Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers just warned that Congress should reject proposals that sought to make Big Tech or broadband ISPs pay into the USF, arguing the program needed a full overhaul before lawmakers considered new revenue sources. In a Washington Times op‑ed (‘No new taxes to fund the FCC’s Universal Service Fund’), she wrote, “Washington has a familiar playbook when an outdated federal program runs into trouble: Rather than fixing what’s broken, it just finds someone new to pay for it.” (More after paywall)

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■ As the Polls Predicted, Markey Cruises to Victory over Moulton in Massachusetts

■ SHLB Chief Reacts to O’Rielly’s Concerns about the $2.4 Billion E-Rate

■ EchoStar Wants the FCC to Lift Ban on Accessing the $2.4 Billion Trust

■ Speaker Johnson Wants to Stop DSA from Packing SCOTUS

■ X Post of the Day: NTIA’s Arielle Roth Visits Alaska above the Arctic Circle

■ Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), in An Apparent First, Says: ‘I Am in Strong Agreement with the President’

■ Power Group: Some Pole Attachments Threaten Linemen Safety

■ GCI Funds Nine Groups Fighting Suicide in Alaska

■ People: Grace Whaley Leaving NAB for New Opportunity

COO: Can Policyband say this without getting sued? Nick Jeffery, sidelined from the workforce since January, is ready to resume his fiber-powered communications career. As Charter Communications’ new Chief Operating Officer, Jeffery marked his first day on the job with a Sept. 1 LinkedIn post outlining his priorities for the company. Jeffery, whose appointment was announced by CEO Chris Winfrey in February and who has evidently been idle since then, said he was drawn to Charter’s “scale of opportunity” and plans to sharpen the company’s focus on customer experience, improve its go‑to‑market strategy, and strengthen day‑to‑day operations. Jeffery, former CEO of Frontier Communications, said he looked forward to working closely with his Charter colleagues and declared, “The Great Cable Comeback starts here.” (More after paywall)

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■ Charter CFO Jessica Fischer Leaving Oct. 15 for New ‘Professional Opportunity’

■ GAO Report Outlines Ongoing Broadband Mapping Issues in Rural Locations

■ Carr Names Hunter Deeley as New Enforcement Bureau Chief

■ House Panel to Look at Data Center Reliance on Local Water Resources
■ House to Vote Today on Constitutional Amendment to Require Nine on SCOTUS

■ Special Report: Five Questions for NECTA President Tim Wilkerson

■ GCI Says Landline Phones Service Has Been Disrupted Across Alaska

■ Optimum Updates MVNO with T-Mobile

■ FTC, 22 States Sue Amazon over Ad Pricing Tactics

■ California Lawmakers Pass Bill Creating an Inspector General at CPUC

■ American Broadband, Great Plains Tweak Fastwyre Deal

■ WOW! Expands Partnership with Braves’ Affiliate Augusta GreenJackets

E-Rate: Former Republican FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly says the agency has clear legal authority to overhaul the E‑Rate program and should confront whether decades of subsidies are improving student learning. In an Aug. 31 analysis (Yes To an E-Rate Reality Check) for the Free State Foundation, where he is an Adjunct Senior Fellow, O’Rielly wrote that “nothing in the law prevents the agency from testing the program’s effectiveness and pursuing needed reforms,” adding that E‑Rate funding “is not an entitlement.” The E-Rate cost taxpayers $2.3 billion in 2025. “If E-Rate is not delivering, or worse, if it is hurting students, then it should be curtailed or ended,” O’Rielly said. (More after paywall)

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NECTA’s evolution mirrors New England’s constant innovation.

NECTA modernized its staffing structure and recruited experts across key operational areas. In recent years, reflecting members’ evolving role in the technology ecosystem, it rebranded from “Cable” to “Connectivity,” launched a new logo, and adopted the mission: “Connecting New England.” It also expanded membership to welcome streamers, content creators, and tech companies. NECTA’s broadband ISP members include Charter, Comcast, and Breezeline and the group has more than 50 associate members and partners, including Astound Broadband, NESN, OpenVault, and NBC Universal.

NECTA relocated to a state-of-the-art Boston headquarters, now a hub for cross-industry coalitions and events including Comcast NBC Boston’s Winter Olympics kickoff party and gatherings with policymakers like Gov. Maura Healey and Sen. Ed Markey. NECTA has elevated the annual NECTA Convention as a premier forum for technology, government, sports, and media leadership. The NECTA team has won awards including the CableFax Top Ops award, and it has built coalitions to advocate for its members during the legislative and regulatory process.

Question 1: NECTA is marking its 65th anniversary this year. What does this milestone represent for the association and for the region’s broadband and telecommunications sector?

TW: From the telephone to the internet and the first transatlantic wireless and broadband connections, New England leads the way. For NECTA, this anniversary is about New England’s legacy of innovation and the future of connectivity.

NECTA members connect loved ones during the important moments while serving as the backbone of innovation across education, medicine, transportation, and entertainment. NECTA’s 65th anniversary comes at a milestone moment for our nation and our industry: America’s 250th anniversary, the 30^th anniversary of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and the telecom industry’s 150th anniversary – a legacy born blocks from NECTA headquarters where Alexander Graham Bell uttered the famous words during the world’s first telephone call: “Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you.”

These milestones make it clear: New England is the epicenter of technological revolution. The region is home to leading companies and growing industries driving investment and innovation.

Beyond the wires and spectrum, NECTA’s members’ networks serve as the connective tissue binding us as Americans. They carry us through moments of national triumph and collective grief. And they’ll carry us into the next generation of technology. (More after paywall)

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■ KeyBanc Analyst Dismisses Starlink Pricing as a Threat to Traditional ISPs

■ Ninth Circuit Creates Circuit Split by Saying Kalshi Is Sports Betting

■ Doxo – Which Just Slammed High Cable TV Bills – Hit with $2.1 Million FTC Penalty

■ AT&T Sues Charter, Saying ‘Fiber‑Powered’ Ads Fool Consumers

■ House Panel to Mark Up Six Bills, Including PLAN for Broadband Act

■ Mission Impossible: SpaceX Pitches Gomez on Winding Down High Cost Fund

■ FCC OKs Innovation Zone at Iowa State to Promote Precision Ag

■ Carolina West Wireless Plans to End Service Before Verizon Deal Gets FCC Approval

■ Mississippi Broadcasters Honor Sen. Wicker with New Service Award

Retrans: A local TV station owner in Indianapolis is hoping DIRECTV gets the message and pays a price for not carrying his three stations, including the ABC affiliate. Circle City Broadcasting CEO DuJuan McCoy today launched a “Make the Switch” campaign urging DIRECTV, AT&T U‑verse, and DIRECTV Stream customers to move to Comcast/Xfinity or Charter/Spectrum, offering free gifts to viewers who show proof of a qualifying switch. “Locally owned and operated television stations like CCB’s are essential to keeping communities informed and connected in a unique way,” McCoy said in a press release. (More after paywall)

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■ Arielle Roth Took the High Road. What’s JB Pritzker’s Problem?

■ X: China Suspected of Using Bot Farms to Manipulate U.S. AI Debate

■ FWA Availability Fell In July among Big Three Carriers, Wolfe Research Finds

■ USDA Funded Alaska Fiber Projects at $2 Million Per Passing, Taxpayer Group Says

■ Calix Pushing Back on Story Claiming Router Security Flaws

■ Free State’s Kennedy Looks at Best Approaches to Spectrum Allocation

■ AT&T to Release Third‑Quarter 2026 Results on Oct. 21

■ KKR to Pay $250 Million Penalty for HSR Violations

■ Gov. Morrisey Encouraged about $45 Billion Nscale-Anthropic Data Center Deal in West Virginia

Pay TV: U.S. households pay a median $125 a month for cable and satellite TV – about $1,500 a year — according to the 2026 doxoINSIGHTS U.S. Cable & Satellite Report released on Aug. 27. The report, based on bill‑payment data covering 97% of ZIP codes, found that 74% of households still carry a pay‑TV bill, a market worth $172 billion. The median cable bill now sits just $4 below the typical electric bill, and despite industry losses – including subscriber declines at EchoStar, Comcast and Charter – pay‑TV costs remain stubbornly high, doxo said. Subscribers in Vermont, South Carolina, Delaware, Nebraska, and Rhode Island had the highest bills in the U.S. (More after paywall)

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■ Starlink Leader Says ‘Far More Affordable Pricing’ on the Way

■ AP: Zelenskyy Awards Elon Musk Ukraine’s Order of Freedom

■ Michigan Firm to Use BEAD Money to Finance a Merger. What?

■ CTIA: Some CBRS, EBS Spectrum Holders Failing to Submit BDC Data to FCC

■ NaLA Survey: 91% of Lifeline Participants Prefer Mobile Plans

■ Mediacom Moving ahead with $2.4 Million in Fiber Projects in Indiana

■ Shentel Ready to Connect 6,000 Glo Fiber Locations in Circleville, Ohio

■ APCo Slams Comcast as Pole Attachment Fight Rages at FCC

■ Markey Widens Lead over Moulton ahead of Next Tuesday’s Primary

■ Stimulus Broadband Building Fiber in Small Nevada Town

■ Laguna Pueblo Receives N.M. Grant to Become ETC, Offer Lifeline Support

Courts: Soo Kim is running out of judicial options. A federal appeals court on Aug. 25 upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by SGCI Holdings III and Managing Partner Kim, who alleged the FCC under Democratic FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, a Biden appointee, and several industry figures conspired to derail his $8.6 billion bid to acquire broadcaster TEGNA in 2023. TEGNA is now owned by Nexstar Media Group. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said Kim, who was born in South Korea and alleged racial discrimination by Rosenworcel, failed to show he faced any “certainly impending” future injury from the FCC, noting that the officials he accused of discrimination “no longer occupy those roles at the FCC.” Message: Current FCC Chairman Brendan Carr wouldn’t repeat Rosenworcel’s shabby treatment of Kim. The judges, all Obama appointees, excluded from their deal narrative then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s intervention after “she and fellow House Democrats got more than $500,000 in campaign donations from [Democrat] Byron Allen,” an African-American TV station owner and Kim’s business rival in the auction for TEGNA in 2022. Kim can appeal to the full D.C. Circuit or seek Supreme Court review, both likely long shots. (More after paywall)

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■ Ookla: FWA Hits 17 Million Subscribers or 14% of Home Broadband Connections

■ Nexstar’s Brett Jenkins Stepping Down as EVP and Chief Technology Officer

■ Wolfe Research Analyst Expects Stronger Netflix after Soft Q2

■ NCTA Hopeful Paoletta Will Protect Unlicensed 6 GHz Band at WRC

■ Forbes Columnist Howard Homonoff: Disney Not Going to Lose ABC Stations

■ Charter Announces Free Amazon Prime to Low Income Broadband Subs

■ NextNav, Tiami Networks Partner on 5G‑Powered Counter‑Drone Detection Technology

■ Calian Group Completes Acquisition of Galaxy Broadband Communications

BEAD: America is finally seeing light at the end of the BEAD tunnel. NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth said on Aug. 25 her agency has now approved all 56 state and territorial final proposals for the $42.45 billion BEAD program. Her announcement marked what she called a major step toward universal broadband access. Roth, also yesterday, traveled to Moneta, Virginia, with Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) to tour Bedford County fiber and satellite projects funded through the program. Virginia’s Roth-approved BEAD plan is to connect more than 85,000 locations while saving taxpayers more than $930 million and leveraging nearly $430 million in matching funds. “BEAD’s core mission is to ensure universal broadband availability across our country,” said Roth, who is also Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information. (More after paywall)

X Post of the Day

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■ Free State’s Andrew Long Praises Carr’s Section 706 Report

■ NTIA’s Roth Elevates Patricia Paoletta ahead of WRC-27 in Shanghai

■ WSJ Editors Not Too Concerned about Putin Attacking Starlink

■ Charter Erases Another Consumer Pain Point with Free NFL Games on Amazon Prime

■ Ohio Counties Battle Lumos over Preemption Petition at FCC

■ DIRECTV Customers Lose Circle City’s ABC Station in Indianapolis

■ Minnesota LFAs Battle Gateway Fiber’s Preemption Petition at FCC

People: Mediacom Communications, the multibillion regional cable ISP built by the late Rocco B. Commisso, is keeping Rocco’s closest relatives firmly in control. The company said Aug. 24 it has appointed Catherine Commisso as Vice Chair and Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Administration, elevating a longtime company figure to one of its most senior leadership roles. The company announced the move on Aug. 24 from its Mediacom Park headquarters in New York. Catherine is the mother of Chairman and CEO Giuseppe B. Commisso and Rocco’s widow. Rocco died Jan. 16, 2026, after a prolonged illness. “With profound humility, I embrace this new role inspired by the lasting legacy of my late husband, Rocco. Throughout our 50-year marriage, I was honored to stand beside him and witness the vision, determination, devotion and collaborative spirit he brought to Mediacom,” Catherine said. (More after paywall)

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■ Don’t Make ISPs Contribute to the USF, Conservative Groups Say

■ Trailing Moulton Has New Take on Polls Ahead of Sept. 1 Primary

■ DIRECTV Asks Supreme Court to Drop Nexstar’s Retrans-Related Antitrust Case

■ Arielle Roth: Spending $100K Per BEAD Location ‘An Abuse of Taxpayer Dollars’

■ Sen. Deb Fischer Discusses Farm Bill and Rural Broadband

■ Verizon Assures Rappahannock County, Virginia, on POTS Cutoff

■ In the age of Zoom, Media Still Preoccupied by ‘Meetings,’ Even Canceled Ones

■ People: Blair Levin Leaving Policy Post at New Street Research

■ Former FCC Space Bureau Chief Jay Schwarz Forms Stratum Policy

ISPs: GFiber topped CNET’s 2026 rankings for best Internet Service Provider, earning the highest scores for price transparency, value, and customer satisfaction. CNET said GFiber’s FCC broadband labels were easy to access and its flat, no‑contract pricing earned a perfect transparency score. The outlet found GFiber offered the strongest speed‑to‑price ratio among all ISPs tested and ranked third in customer satisfaction at 9.3 [out of 10]. “No other ISP we evaluated offers a better price for the speeds,” CNET writer Trisha Jandoc said. (More after paywall)

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■ Markey Stumbles over Easy AI Question in Final TV Debate with Moulton

■ Analyst Kampis Opposed to Making Big Tech Support USF

■ Senate Needs to Clear up Permitting Chaos, Analyst Karren Says

■ Wolfe Research’s Supino Takes a Fresh Look at Fox/Roku Financials

■ Carr Explains Goals of Space Modernization Order to House Lawmakers

■ GCI Expands 5G Service Across Southeast Alaska

■ Zayo Inks Strategic Supply Agreement with Corning

■ Michigan Signs Grant Contracts with 17 BEAD Award Winners

Disney: Round One goes to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr. A federal judge in Washington has rejected Disney’s bid for an expedited hearing in its lawsuit challenging the FCC’s early license review of eight ABC stations. U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan on Aug. 20 denied the company’s request to hold a hearing by Tuesday on its motion for a temporary restraining order, agreeing with the government that an urgent session was unnecessary. The ruling means Disney will proceed under the standard briefing schedule as it seeks to halt the FCC’s review. “We are pleased that the judge has now rejected Disney’s meritless attempt to rush into court,” an FCC spokesman said. (More after paywall)

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■ FTC Looking at Business Disclosure of Surveillance Pricing

■ Boston Globe Endorses Moulton over Markey in Democratic Senate Primary

■ Goldman Sachs Report Targets Risks to Space-Based Communications

■ Left-Wing Group Launches Smear Campaign against FCC Nominee Danielle Thumann Severs

■ Mediacom Unveils ‘Mediacom Local’ as New Community News Network

■ SHLB’s Wender Encouraged by Commentary in CRS E-Rate Review

■ Report: Cyber Attacks on U.S. Water Systems Could Be Opening Salvo

■ Breaking: Charter Wraps Up Acquisition of Cox Communications and Liberty Broadband

■ Will MS NOW Liberals Pay $7.99/Mo. for Eye-Rolling Lessons from Rachel Maddow?

Jobs: Cumulus Media Inc. says it will maintain its current newsroom staffing levels for at least two years as the company wraps up the Chapter 11 process following FCC approval of its reorganization on Aug. 19. In a recent letter to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, President and CEO Mary G. Berner said the jobs commitment was part of a broader plan to strengthen the radio station company’s ability to serve local audiences.

FCC Commitment Letter, 4-page PDF

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“Preserving our coverage of news-worthy events, and their impact on our local communities, is exceedingly important to Cumulus Media,” Berner said in her four-page Aug. 14 letter. “The stronger financial foundation that our financial reorganization will afford us is intended to preserve and strengthen, not diminish, our ability to serve local audiences. Consistent with that objective, we commit to maintaining our existing newsroom staffing levels for a minimum of two years following approval of the requested applications.” (More after paywall)

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■ Narrative Violation: Conservative Radio Host Running for Connecticut Senate Pulled from Air over Possible Clash with FCC Equal Time Rules

■ Chairman Carr Calls Disney’s Federal Lawsuit against FCC ‘Meritless’

■ Breezeline Partners with DIRECTV on New Video Streaming Offer

■ New York Lands Dead Last in Nielsen’s New ‘NFL Fandom Index’

■ Hearst TV Could Go Dark on Dish at 7 p.m. Today

■ CRS Analyst Questions FCC Authority over E-Rate Funding

■ Vero Fiber Merging with MontanaSky in Northwest Montana

■ Comcast Launches Xfinity Shield, New AI‑powered Home‑Protection Platform

■ Burlington Telecom Named Official Telecom Partner of University of Vermont Athletics

■ People: Mark Peller Named CEO of United Launch Alliance, Amazon Leo’s Launch Partner

■ RIP: Bill Rasmussen, Co‑Founder of ESPN

FCC: Democratic FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez on Aug. 18 unveiled her own Sec. 706 Report, after a fashion. But it read more like a Year 1706 Report as it was filled with RDOF-era, backward-looking assumptions that once again relegated Starlink to the broadband ISP underclass – even though UBS analysts expect the low-Earth orbit ISP to reach 20 million U.S. subscribers by 2030. If the U.S. represents 10% of global Starlink subscribership, as it more than likely does today, then Starlink will have 200 million multinational subscribers in less than 53 months, by UBS’s math. “I worry a little bit about this advocacy of, ‘Well, we don’t need [universal service programs] anymore because we’ve had all this deployment, including by the LEOs,’” Gomez said during a fireside chat at the Technology Policy Institute’s Aspen Forum in Colorado, as quoted in Broadband Breakfast. “Universal service is not just a picture in time, and it’s not just about deployment. It’s also about maintaining the services,” she said. (More after paywall)

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■ Charter CEO Winfrey: Pay-TV Customers Will Keep Fleeing Big 4 Retrans Fees

■ Poll: Markey Has Commanding Lead over Moulton Ahead of Sept. 1 Primary

■ UBS: Starlink’s Pursuit of TV Station Spectrum Would Be a ‘Multi-Year Process’

■ Blue State Financial Regulators Press Charter, Nexstar on DEI

■ Now What? Clyburn-Chong USF Task Force Punts on Contribution Reform

■ Oceanside, California, Could Lose Its PEG Channel to Cord Cutting

■ Iridium to FCC: SpaceX Gateways Will Cause ‘Unacceptable Interference’

■ People: Rachel Grey and Theo Leavell Joining CCIA

Empire State: New York’s two major broadband grant programs are delivering fewer connections at higher cost than first announced, according to a new analysis today by the Advanced Communications Law & Policy Institute at New York Law School. ACLP reviewed 34 Municipal Infrastructure Program (MIP) and Affordable Housing Connectivity Program (AHCP) awards between July 2024 and July 2026 and found that while state officials have quietly increased funding on many projects, promised reach has fallen sharply. The ACLP said grant amounts have risen by about $38 million across the programs, even as the number of planned connections dropped by roughly 34,000. (More after paywall)

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■ As a Penny Stock, Optimum Threatened with Delisting by NYSE

■ Amazing Rebound: Heather McCallion Named Cable One’s Chief Operating Officer

■ Carr: Broadband Speeds Up, Prices Down, Competition Stronger under Trump

■ Alabama Community College System Adds Seven Campuses To the Alabama Fiber Network

■ Moulton Demands Markey Return $62,000 Contribution from DSCC

■ Report: Ukraine Missiles Knock Out Russia Plant Building Starlink Copycat

TV: The recipient of this TV industry “award” had a simple message: No thanks. Keep it.

African-American TV station owner DuJuan McCoy is pushing back on an Aug. 15 decision by the National Association of Black Journalists to issue its annual “Thumbs Down” award to him during its Salute to Excellence gala ceremony in Atlanta. NABJ – founded in 1975 and based at the University of Maryland – represents more than 4,000 journalists. It said McCoy’s “award” reflected concerns raised about his treatment of Black journalists at WISH‑TV in Indianapolis, part of McCoy’s Circle City Broadcasting. NABJ, however, described its concerns in vague terms without offering a single example of what it meant. Video of the award presentation starts here on YouTube. (More after paywall)

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■ California Regulators Approve Charter-Cox; Deal to Close Next Week

■ Permitting Delays Stall Fiber Build in Butler County, Ohio

■ Delaware Has Fastest Download Speeds for Second Year in a Row

■ New Mexico: Verizon Outage Justifies Redundant Fiber Routes

■ FCC Asked to Void Effort to Require ISPs to Get Cable Franchises

■ NECTA Marks 65th Year Leading Cable and Broadband Innovators

■ CPUC Keeps Funding Fiber Projects with Steep Per-Location Costs

■ East Longmeadow, Mass., to Spend $43.4 Million to Overbuild Charter

■ A Case of Political Civility Breaks Out on Capitol Hill

■ West Virginia Gov. Morrisey Honors Virginia Elva Cadd on Her 107th Birthday

Closing Time: Nebraska Technology and Telecommunications in Omaha is preparing to shut down all of its phone and Internet services across five states, leaving nearly 4,000 customers with only weeks to find new providers, according to an Aug. 13 filing with the Federal Communications Commission. The company, known as NT&T, told the FCC it will discontinue long‑distance service on Aug. 15 and end local telephone and Internet service on Sept. 30. The move affects customers in Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota. (More after paywall)

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