Comprehensive Telecom Reform Doubtful in 113th Congress, says Ex-FCC Chairman Martin
Former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said he’s uncertain if the 113th Congress, which convenes in January, could pass comprehensive reform of the 1996 Telecom Act, during a Bloomberg event Wednesday. Passing a comprehensive telecom reform bill through regular order hinges on how many Senate seats Republicans pick up in November, and at the moment neither party is projected to attain a super-majority of 60 seats. “Even if the Republicans take over the [Senate] majority, we anticipate they won’t have the numbers … so you will have to have some agreement with some portion of Democrats to get it through regular order,” said Martin, now an attorney at Patton Boggs.
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Martin told attendees to keep an eye on Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., who he said is “likely to take over the Commerce Committee,” in 2013. There is speculation that DeMint, the third-most senior Republican on the committee, could become chairman if the GOP gains a majority in the upper chamber, though Republicans vote on their chairmen and could theoretically choose someone else. DeMint has a “very aggressive, deregulatory agenda and I think he’s been trying to figure out how we can do a comprehensive reform,” said Martin. DeMint is the author of the Next Generation Television Marketplace Act (S-2008), which aims to repeal from the Communications Act mandates on carriage and purchase of certain broadcast signals by cable and satellite companies; repeal retrans and compulsory license provisions; and repeal media ownership rules.
Senate Republicans may not have to focus on a comprehensive bill in order to revise the ‘96 Act, said Blair Levin, Gig. U executive director and former director of the FCC’s National Broadband Plan. “You won’t need to rewrite the act because they will do it as part of the [budget] reconciliation process,” he said. Martin acknowledged that Republicans could theoretically push through piecemeal reform proposals. There is much that Republicans can do without passing a bill, said Martin: “There are ways that Congress is framing the issues that can have a significant impact.”
The number one telecom priority for a Republican administration is to focus on freeing up more spectrum, Martin said. “You have to make sure that spectrum is being fully utilized. That is one of the most important things you can do for the economy.” Regardless of either administration’s telecom priorities, the government should first ensure that it does no harm, he said. Martin said the success of the broadcast spectrum auctions depends entirely on how the commission designs the rules. The way broadcasters are compensated and the way that money is ultimately distributed “is one of the big challenges facing the commission,” he said.
Verizon’s pending net neutrality case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit could have the biggest potential of any event next year to disrupt the telecom marketplace, said Levin. “I don’t think it [a Verizon win] would be good for the economy,” he said. “A court could do enormous harm to the most exciting infrastructure for creating growth by saying the companies that own the pipes have certain rights.” Levin bristled at Verizon’s argument that the First Amendment and the Fifth Amendment prohibit the commission’s rule: “In other words if I were to write my friend an email … Verizon claims that they have a right to rewrite my email,” he said. “It is an incredibly disruptive argument, it would cause a rewrite of the ‘96 Act, it would throw out most of the 50 state laws, and it would throw out a huge amount of the 11,000 cable franchises.” The government’s final briefs in the case are due Nov. 21 and oral arguments in the case could take place as early as January or February.