Higher Profile for Communications Issues Next Congress
Communications will get more attention from Congress and the new administration, starting with the analog TV cutoff, industry and Hill officials told us. One bill must pass, Hill aides said: Reauthorization of the Satellite Home Viewer Act, a possible vehicle for controversial broadcast industry provisions on carriage and indecency rules. Legislation to promote broadband access has wide bipartisan support but may be harder to pass, given the economic slump and disagreement over government’s proper role.
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“Regardless of who wins, broadband policy will reflect a more comprehensive cross-government approach,” said attorney Bryan Tramont, once chief of staff to FCC Chairman Michael Powell. “NTIA will be more active. The Agriculture Department will be more active. DHS, HHS, Education will be more active. And ultimately there will be a higher profile effort from the White House.” The government will face more pressure to make sure that spectrum policies allow consumers enough bandwidth, he said.
Proposals to make the FCC more open could be prominent, Hill aides said, noting bipartisan pressure for such changes. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., the Commerce Committee’s chairman, has complained about the commission not publishing drafts of major proposals such as those on intercarrier compensation rules and white spaces set for the Nov. 4 meeting. During the summer Ranking Member Joe Barton, R- Texas, circulated a draft bill described as proposing more open and orderly consideration of commission proceedings.
Former FCC Chairman Dick Wiley doesn’t think major changes are needed, he said. But the commission would “do well to try and get orders out more quickly,” he said. The FCC needs to run efficiently and set deadlines for action, Wiley said. He would like a speedier FCC but is “sympathetic” to the agency’s need to handle a crush of business, he said. “With good management, the fundamental structure of the commission works well,” Wiley said.
An oversight hearing on the DTV transition is likely, perhaps even this Congress, if it returns after the elections, industry and Hill officials said. “The DTV transition will be the number one issue,” said TIA President Grant Seiffert. “Everyone is going to be dialed in on that one.” Republicans are more confident than Democrats that things are on track, and many Democrats fear significant disruptions, officials said.
Congress won’t delay the cutoff without significant evidence that it would harm many people, Hill sources said. “It would be very messy to put off,” said one. But Congress may not focus strongly on the question until right before Feb. 17.
Broadband deployment is essential to TIA members’s survival, Seiffert said. Uncertainty over the economy could discourage Congress from taking up the matter, he said, but incentives should be part of any new economic stimulus package considered. Congress should consider tax credits, Seiffert said.
Net neutrality legislation would be more likely with a Democrat in the White House, and probably marks the greatest policy difference between Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and John McCain, R-Ariz., industry and Hill sources said. But “these issues are hard to get off the ground,” said Seiffert. “There are a lot of nervous people out there,” said an industry source, with Democrats “singing ‘Kumbaya’ on net neutrality.”