federal communications commission

AT&T said Monday that it is ending its $39 billion bid to buy T-Mobile USA after facing fierce government objections. The cellphone giant said that the actions of the government to block the deal do not change the challenges of the wireless phone industry, which it says requires more airwaves, known as spectrum, to expand. The deal would have solved that problem for a time, and without it, "customers will be harmed and needed investment will be stifled," AT&T said in a statement.

Since 2008, the Federal Communications Commission has received nearly 6,000 complaints about excessively loud TV commercials. But on Wednesday, the FCC adopted rules to enforce the 2010 Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation (CALM) Act, requiring that TV ads have the same average volume as the programs they accompany.

The gradual addition of extra fees to your cellphone bill can be a bit like gaining weight -- you don't keep track of your habits, until one day you open your bill and experience "bill shock." The FCC thinks you deserve advanced warning, and starting soon, your cell provider will have to give it to you.

DailyFinance readers tell us they're frustrated and angry about phone cramming, or the practice of cheating customers by adding illegitimate charges to their phone bills. If you've been a victim of phone cramming, we want to hear about it.

Earlier this week, the FCC proposed new rules designed to crack down on "phone cramming," a widespread, illegal practice that robs billions of dollars from phone users. And with 300 million third-party charges hidden in phone bills every year, odds are, you've been a victim.

Regulators have begun to take a long, hard look at whether the AT&T buyout of T-Mobile would create a quasi-monopoly in the American cellular carrier industry. If those antitrust concerns sink the deal, AT&T could be in real trouble, because cellular is its only clear hope for growth.

The Federal Communications Commission has granted permission for nine companies, including Google, to turn unused broadcast frequencies -- also known as "white spaces" -- into wireless broadband.

Earlier this week, Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., warned that if the Comcast acquisition of NBC Universal went through, the company may pull NBC's programming from Netflix. Federal regulators approved the deal Tuesday.

Verizon Communications on Thursday filed a legal challenge against the new "net neutrality" rules the Federal Communications Commission adopted last month. Does Internet discrimination serve a purpose?

In an historic 3-2 vote Tuesday, the FCC passed its long-awaited network neutrality order, the most sweeping attempt yet to address the way phone, cable and Internet companies interact when it comes to Internet traffic. But Congress or the courts could end up unraveling the FCC's work.