Media Ownership Top Challenge for New Commission, Copps Says
The FCC should begin a “comprehensive, open and public” rulemaking on media ownership, complete intercarrier compensation (ICC) reform by year’s end, and improve homeland security initiatives under FCC purview, Comr. Copps told an FCBA luncheon Mon. He outlined those ambitions in an upbeat speech peppered with jokes and tributes to FCC Chmn. Martin, who attended the luncheon but declined to comment.
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Praising Powell, Copps then looked to the future. “The first thing we find staring at us is a huge unfinished agenda.” Among the challenges, he said, “none ranks so high” as media ownership. Copps said he and Comr. Adelstein are “hitting the road” to gather Americans’ opinions. “We have a second opportunity to step up to the plate and come up with a set of rules to encourage localism, diversity and competition -- and also a set of rules that can pass the red-face test in court,” Copps said.
Copps said he would back revisiting multicast must- carry rules, specifically localism and diversity issues he sees as inadequately explored. “I've been disappointed we haven’t had a better dialogue on this,” he said.
The Commission needs to complete action on digital broadcasters’ public interest obligation, an issue that has “languished at the Commission for years,” Copps said: “On the central question of what the digital transition means for the public interest, the Commission has had a bad case of lock-jaw,” with the result a “big digital gap.” The task is to decide how the DTV transition will serve adult viewers and listeners, he said.
The FCC’s top telecom priority must be to fix ICC -- a goal that it should reach by year’s end, Copps said. “For too long, the Commission has taken the easier course of answering only narrow questions about how to keep the current system afloat, and we have spent endless man- and women-hours twisting new technologies to fit into old pigeon holes,” he said. “The system is broken and we are long past the point where another fix here or a patch there can make it work.”
To fix ICC, Copps suggested FCC convene panels in the spring and summer so all sides can “talk it out” and review proposals, with a rulemaking issued in the fall. “I really think it can get done,” Copps said. “Congress wants, and rightly expects, us to resolve this, rather than them having to resolve it.”
On homeland security, Copps proposed 3 ideas: (1) Create an office focusing on helping local public safety organizations to share ideas, vet proposals, prepare plans and coordinate them with government and industry. (2) The FCC chmn. should appoint an FCC commissioner to lead FCC efforts. (3) The FCC should have a plan to improve communication among hospitals, first responders and 911 call-takers.
Sunshine Act reform was among the final items Copps covered. He said he and Chmn. Powell have written Congress describing commissioners’ difficulties in discussing complex issues as a group without running afoul of the law. “I hope Congress will consider modifications of the law that preserve appropriate safeguards while allowing for the kind of frank interchange among commissioners that will encourage more consensus solutions.”