D.C. Memo: Trump Team 'Fixing the Broadband Mess' Left Behind by Biden, Commerce Secretary Lutnick Says
Commerce chief says he shut down 'rip-off projects run by powerful lobbyists who are very good at getting grants and very bad at delivering results'
Headlines:
▪️Virtual MVPDs Oppose Cable Regulation
▪️Affiliates Hint Big Four TV Nets Have Taken Unlawful Control
▪️Verizon Warns FCC about Jamming Prison Mobile Phones
▪️Herring Networks Signs Exclusive Deal with DIRECTV Advertising
▪️Maine to Start Paying 5.5% Netflix Tax on Jan. 1
▪️West Va. Gets $199 Million in Part to Fund Telehealth
▪️Newsmax Ukraine to Launch in early 2026
▪️Cable One’s Sparklight Announces 2026 Charitable Grants
BEAD: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Monday President Trump’s Commerce Department has halted what he called “wasteful” broadband spending, claiming the department has already saved taxpayers about $21 billion through changes to the federal broadband buildout program called BEAD. In a post on X, Lutnick declared, “At the Department of Commerce, we are fixing the broadband mess left behind by the Biden administration.” He said Commerce stopped funding broadband builds that he called “rip-off projects run by powerful lobbyists who are very good at getting grants and very bad at delivering results.” Lutnick was responding to a Wall Street Journal editorial (Trump Unbreaks the Internet) Sunday that showered praise on NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth for reforming the $42.45 billion BEAD program, though she arrived on the scene weeks after Lutnick had issued new BEAD rules on June 6. The $21 billion in savings was achieved in part by eliminating the Biden administration’s expensive fiber technology preference and opening the bidding wider to Elon Musk’s Starlink and Amazon Leo (formerly Project Kuiper). (More after paywall.)
