Surfing the Broadband Bit Stream

Verizon is promising faster speeds and service-level agreements via a new '5G Network Slice – Enhances Internet' product targeted to enterprises.

The TikTok sale is officially happening, with a consortium of American investors set to take over U.S. operations of the video platform next month on Jan. 22, 2026.

The deal means that TikTok, the fast-growing social video platform that upended the strategies of competitors like YouTube and Meta Platforms Inc., will have a new joint venture owner in the U.S.: TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC.

The new U.S. operations of TikTok will have three “managing investors” that will collectively own 45 percent of the company: Oracle Corporation, Silver Lake, and MGX (Abu Dhabi’s state investment firm). Another 5 percent will be owned by other new investors, 30.1 percent will be “held by affiliates of certain existing investors of ByteDance; and 19.9 percent will be retained by ByteDance.”

The FCC now serves political interests instead of the public, former agency officials said.

With a soft rollout underway, Midco plans to commercially launch its mobile service in 2026 with by-the-gig and unlimited plans.

"We've had users test it around the country and are pleased with the reliability," said a Midco official in an emailed statement. "Our marketing launch will be phased by market and coordinated with fiber upgrade communications, so it will be a rolling process throughout 2026 even though the product will be available throughout the Midco footprint." 

WISPA and several rural operators have asked the FCC to refrain from relocating current users of the CBRS band and outlined the risks of relocation.

Today, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a decision that NTIA's BEAD Restructuring Policy Notice issued on June 6, 2025 violated procedural rules mandating congressional review.

Established as a guardrail to ensure agencies follow congressional laws and guidelines, the GAO is administrative in nature and would need either Congress or the courts to step in and enforce the original IIJA, which had a “fiber first” standard versus Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s “tech neutral” and "Benefit of the Bargain" requirements.

The decision the GAO is handing down is that the NTIA didn’t follow administrative procedures and congressional review processes before releasing (and enforcing) the June 6 Restructuring Notice.

The CEO stands to gain $567 million if a deal is sealed to sell the WB empire, while longtime lieutenant Gunnar Wiedenfels will see $144 million in cash and stock considerations if a transaction closes.

If David Zaslav steers Warner Bros. Discovery to a successful deal close, it will net the company’s shareholders a notable profit — especially if a bidding war escalates and drives Paramount’s hostile $30 per share offer even higher, or if Netflix needs to raise its offer.

The CEO, whose studio empire had been trading below $10 a share at one point earlier this year, sparked an auction with multiple suitors after David Ellison approached the company for a takeover offer after closing his $8 billion deal to merge Paramount and Skydance in August.

Jared Kushner’s private equity firm has reportedly stepped back from previous efforts to take over the entertainment giant Warner Bros Discovery, following scrutiny of his involvement.

Affinity Partners emerged as a key backer of a $108.4bn hostile bid by Paramount Skydance for control of WBD. Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, set up Affinity.

Paramount, controlled by the billionaire Ellison family, is attempting to sink a $82.7bn deal WBD struck to sell its storied Warner Bros movie studios, premier HBO cable network and HBO Max streaming service to Netflix.

On December 2, 2025, the Free State Foundation hosted a lunch featuring NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth. Ms. Roth is Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information. In this role, she serves as Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the Executive Branch agency principally responsible for advising the President on communications, broadband, and Internet policy.

NTIA is in the midst of tackling many important issues, including reforming and administering the multibillion dollar BEAD program to extend broadband deployment, formulating key spectrum policies for the Executive Branch, and coordinating the management of government spectrum.

SPEAKER
Arielle Roth – Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information
RESPONDENTS
Michael O’Rielly – former Commissioner, FCC / Adjunct Senior Fellow , Free State Foundation
Deborah Collier – Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs, Citizens Against Government Waste
HOST
Randolph May – President, Free State Foundation

AI companies have a responsibility to their users to make sure the warrant requirement is strictly followed, to resist unlawful bulk surveillance requests, and to be transparent with their users about the number of government requests they receive.

“Digital Equity Unwrapped” – a special livestream bringing together advocates and broadband-for-all leaders who spent 2025 pushing for a more connected and inclusive nation – is slated for next Wednesday, December 17, beginning at 3 pm ET. Attendees will have screen-side seating for a virtual fireside chat with NDIA executive director Angela Siefer and American Association for Public Broadband (AAPB) executive director Gigi Sohn, two leaders who have shaped national conversations around broadband, digital inclusion, and local power.

According to Politico, Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker is introducing a bill today that would give states access to an estimated $20–$22 billion in remaining BEAD funds.

Politico states the bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Shelley Moore Capito

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31, 2025 – Federal Communications Commissioner Olivia Trusty used a speech before the Media Institute on Wednesday to deliver a strong defense of First Amendment principles, even as she affirmed that federal law still grants the FCC authority to regulate broadcast content.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 17, 2025 – The Commerce Department’s new rules for its $42.45 billion broadband grant program are subject to Congressional review, a government watchdog found.

The Congressional Review Act allows Congress to nullify agency rules if both chambers pass a resolution to that effect, and requires agencies to submit a copy of any new rule to Congress before it can take effect.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 17, 2025 – A Senate oversight hearing of the Federal Communications Commission veered into unexpected territory Wednesday when FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and Republican Commissioner Olivia Trusty denied the agency’s status as an independent regulatory body.

Canada's Rogers Communications has launched Rogers Satellite, a direct-to-device service that is initially connected to Starlink's LEO satellite constellation, with Lynk Global on deck.

About six months after the start of beta trials, Rogers Communications has pushed ahead with the commercial launch of Rogers Satellite, a direct-to-device (D2D) service that is being marketed to Rogers' own mobile customers and consumers who get mobile services from other Canadian carriers. 

Rogers Satellite is initially connecting via Starlink's growing constellation of low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. Rogers is also partnered with Lynk Global for the D2D service but has not announced when that part will be activated.

As 2025 showed, cable ops are upgrading their DOCSIS networks, and plans are underway to go beyond DOCSIS 4.0.

It's clear that cable operators are going with fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) in most greenfield deployments, including organic edge-outs and government-subsidized builds. But operators are choosing advanced forms of DOCSIS in their widely deployed hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) networks, except in rare cases such as Altice USA's ongoing fiber build in the Northeast and VMO2's fiber overlay in the UK. 

Cable operators' decisions are being determined by cost and performance metrics. It simply remains too expensive for cable operators to upgrade tens of millions of locations to passive optical networking (PON) and FTTP when they can upgrade their DOCSIS networks for a fraction of the cost and still deliver enough speed to keep pace with most competitive fiber options. 

The US pay-TV sector added 303,000 subs in Q3, the first gain in eight years, according to MoffettNathanson. Those trends could reverse in early 2026.

A polycrisis is a situation where multiple distinct problems interact and amplify each other, resulting in a more severe outcome than the sum of the individual crises. The term is being used to describe the complex interconnections between related problems, which can lead to cascading and overwhelming ompacts. The term is mostly applied to large…

The consensus view across the United States is that artificial intelligence companies should be more accountable for the ways in which their powerful models and services impact consumers.

Algorithmic systems enable unfair price discrimination in housing and on ride hailing apps. AI-generated deepfakes fuel the exploitation of young women and efforts to confuse voters. Large language models drive people to delusion, depression and self-harm. These threats have done a remarkable thing this year: lawmakers in red and blue states as varied as California, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, New York, Texas and Utah agree that it is time for policymakers to redress the unique consumer safety risks that AI-powered services pose.

All year, however, President Donald Trump has been threatening to block such laws unilaterally. Never mind the characteristic all-caps syntax and gratuitous race-baiting focus on “DEI ideology” and “Woke AI.” His language, more importantly, parrots the pro-innovation rhetoric of his Big Tech allies. Finally, this week, the White House published an executive order that purports to single-handedly stop the states in their tracks in the name of innovation and global competitiveness.

If only the president were as powerful as he imagines.