Q&A with telecom reporter Karl Bode about Gigi Sohn's nomination to the FCC as Comcast and Fox Corp. team up to lobby swing votes in the Senate against her
How often do the parent companies of Fox News and MSNBC team up? … Today, we're just talking about a problem. Tweets: @karlbode , @commoncause , @starfire2258 , and @reckless Tweets: Karl Bode / @karlbode : media/telecom giants (and the politicians paid to love them) have been waging a year long coordinated smear campaign against a qualified and popular FCC nominee, gridlocking the agency. I talked about it with the verge: https://www.theverge.com/... @commoncause : The FCC, in charge of how we get our internet connection, is deadlocked and can't vote on reforms including expanding rural broadband and restoring net neutrality. Why? Because the Senate won't vote on confirming Gigi Sohn to the commission. https://www.theverge.com/... Sean Hollister / @starfire2258 : So proud of these big back-to-back stories about how politicians on both sides of the aisle are fucking up https://www.theverge.com/... https://www.theverge.com/... Nilay Patel / @reckless : Here I am talking to NewsMax CEO Chris Ruddy (and many others!) about why Fox News and Comcast are fighting to keep the FCC deadlocked at 2-2 https://www.theverge.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
By November 2022, Gigi Sohn had been waiting more than a year for a Senate floor vote, and even a letter from ~250 industry groups urging action failed to break the logjam. What this Q&A adds is the mechanics behind the stall: Comcast and Fox Corp. — parents of rival networks Fox News and MSNBC — jointly lobbying swing senators against her.
The stakes are procedural but concrete: with the FCC held at 2-2, it cannot vote on restoring net neutrality rules gutted in 2017 or expanding rural broadband. The campaign ultimately worked — Sohn withdrew after a 497-day confirmation fight, leaving the deadlock intact.
First-order effects
- Swing senators become the decisive audience: Comcast and Fox Corp. direct joint lobbying at the handful of votes blocking a floor tally, while the FCC stays frozen at 2-2 and unable to act on rural broadband expansion or net neutrality restoration.
Second-order effects
- Public-interest groups like Common Cause counter-mobilize around the deadlock, but the practical effect lands on broadband policy: with no working majority, implementation of federal broadband funding tilts toward incumbents — the same outcome Big Telecom later secured by squeezing out municipal network competitors.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, personnel becomes policy: a regulated industry that cannot win at the Commission can instead spend a year opposing one nominee and keep the agency gridlocked, raising the bar for any future FCC pick to be acceptable to the largest ISPs and media companies.
The trend: Telecom and media giants are converting Senate confirmation fights into a de facto veto over regulatory direction, keeping the FCC deadlocked where rulemaking fails.