Broadcasting & Cable: Gigi Sohn Fans: Broadband Bandwagon Is Missing Key Driver

Backers of Democratic Federal Communications Commission nominee Gigi Sohn argued that getting Sohn to the commission, where she would give it a three-Democrat majority, should be a top priority and one those same ISPs were impeding.

That came in responses to the Monday (May 9) tag team event featuring Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden praising ISPs at the Rose Garden for helping connect 11.5 million households to high-speed through the American Connectivity Program (ACP). …

Former acting FCC chairman and Common Cause special adviser Michael Copps was on the same page when it came to Sohn being a key piece in the broadband connectivity puzzle.

“[N]one of the White House’s initiatives around halting ongoing consolidation in the broadband sector, restoring a free and open internet, and ensuring marginalized communities have equitable access to communications services can be fully achieved if the FCC remains deadlocked,” he said in a statement following the event. “Congress must take action now to ensure Ms. Sohn receives a vote,” Copps said.

Copps said those gatekeepers were conducting a “sleazy” campaign to undermine Sohn because they knew that “a functional FCC would hold them accountable and prevent them from engaging in anticompetitive and discriminatory practices that undermine our ability to get online.”