FCC Chairman calls for investigations into Disney’s diversity, equity, and inclusion practices

The Federal Communications Commission chair said Friday that he has launched an investigation into Disney’s diversity, equity and inclusion program in his latest attempt under the Trump administration to stop such efforts.

In a letter to Disney’s CEO Robert Iger, chairman Brendan Kerr said the company’s program to increase job diversity and promote racial-based affinity groups appears to violate equal employment opportunities regulations.

“Disney wants to ensure that virtually all discriminatory initiatives will be completed, not just the name,” Kerr said in a letter sent Thursday. “In another case, Disney’s actions – whether they’re ongoing or recently terminated, we want to determine whether they’re always in compliance with applicable FCC rules.”

A Disney spokesman said the company is reviewing the FCC letter. “We look forward to being involved with the committee to answer that question.”

Veteran Republican regulator Kerr began his tenure as FCC chair in January by launching a drastic campaign to scrutinize the media, sought to eradicate left-leaning bias and policy allegations that were corned by the president.

Last month he began a similar diversity and inclusion investigation into Comcast, the parent company of NBCuniversal. Kerr also said the agency’s merger reviews will include a survey of the company’s DEI program.

The investigation continues Presidential Order Trump was banned from “illegal and immoral” DEI programs in the federal government on his first day. A day later, Kerr announced that he would be closing his promotion of diversity and equity in the FCC’s strategic planning, budget and economic reporting.

It is unclear whether the FCC, which normally serves as a cable television watchdog, distributing licenses to broadcast television and radio stations, has the power to punish media companies for its diversity initiative. Kerr argues that a wide range of “public interest” standards can be applied to scrutiny companies such as Disney, which owns ABC and ESPN, and Disney, such as television stations around the country.

FCC experts said Kerr’s investigation could be challenged in court.

“It’s about bullying and threats,” said Andrew Schwartzman, a senior advisor to the Benton Institute for Broadband Society. Kerr’s most powerful tool is his vote on the committee to approve mergers and acquisitions, he said.

Trump nominated Kerr has launched an investigation since he chaired several news outlets, including PBS and NPR, accused him of left-leaning political bias. He investigated an interview that CBS’s “60 minutes” was conducted with former vice president Kamala Harris and released an investigation by San Francisco radio station KCBS regarding reports of immigration enforcement measures.

Kerr publicly agreed to the administration’s promise to cut regulations significantly, chase big technology, and punish television networks for political bias. Kerr is restructuring independent bodies, expanding its duties and using it as a political weapon of rights, Telecommunications lawyers and analysts said.

Brooks Burns Contributed with a report from Los Angeles.

Source: www.nytimes.com

Reliance reportedly nearing agreement to purchase Disney’s India operations

Reliance is reportedly close to agreeing to buy Disney’s India operations as Mukesh Ambani’s oil telecom empire looks to expand its digital and television assets.

Disney values ​​its India operations at about $10 billion, while Reliance pegs its assets at $7 billion to $8 billion, Bloomberg News reported on Monday. According to the report, a deal could be signed and announced as early as next month.

Reliance said in an earlier statement that the company is constantly evaluating properties for acquisition.

In 2019, Disney acquired 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets for $71.3 billion, a move that was significantly strengthened by the addition of Star India.

The deal was critical to Disney’s global streaming expansion, giving Disney broadcast and streaming rights to Indian Premier League cricket matches, a number of multilingual television channels, and an interest in a Bollywood film production company. At the time of acquisition, Star’s Hotstar had approximately 150 million monthly active users.

Hotstar dominated India’s video streaming world for several more quarters, but its popularity grew after Reliance-backed Viacom18 secured five-year rights to stream IPL cricket matches for about $3 billion, and the situation has since changed. became tapered. Disney paid $3 billion for the same five-year rights to air the content on television.

Reliance has poached a number of top leadership and engineering talent to strengthen JioCinema over the past year, bringing premium content from HBO and NBC to its on-demand streaming service.

Disney’s Hotstar, which lost around 20 million subscribers this year as consumers flocked to JioCinema to watch IPL matches, has turned to the ongoing Cricket World Cup in hopes of winning back customers. Streaming for free to mobile viewers. Earlier this month, the Disney Streamer app took back the global on-demand video streaming record from JioCinema when a cricket match drew 35 million concurrent viewers. During Sunday’s India vs. New Zealand match, concurrent viewership jumped to 43 million viewers, breaking its own record.

Source: techcrunch.com