FCC Pick Sohn’s Locast Ties Spur GOP Senator to Seek New Hearing

Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Republican staffers have asked chair Maria Cantwell for a new hearing on Federal Communications Commission nominee Gigi Sohn.

Staff reached out to Cantwell (D-Wash.) Tuesday after ranking member Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) expressed concerns over Sohn’s ties to Locast, a streaming television service provider, a spokesperson said.

ABC Inc., CBS Corp., NBCUniversal Media, LLC, and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. in 2019 sued Locast for streaming their programming without paying fees. That litigation in October resulted in a $32 million settlement, which led to the nonprofit shutting down. Sohn served on the ...