The best approach to clearing broadcaster spectrum is voluntary and cooperative, said FCC officials at a Technology Policy Institute lunch Friday on Capitol Hill. They provided more details on a spectrum proposal in the National Broadband Plan to free 500 MHz, previewed last week by Chairman Julius Genachowski (CD Feb 25 p1). Also, an aide to Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, said spectrum inventory legislation is moving forward.
Adam Bender
Adam Bender, Senior Editor, is the state and local telecommunications reporter for Communications Daily, where he also has covered Congress and the Federal Communications Commission. He has won awards for his Warren Communications News reporting from the Society of Professional Journalists, Specialized Information Publishers Association and the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. Bender studied print journalism at American University and is the author of dystopian science-fiction novels. You can follow Bender at WatchAdam.blog and @WatchAdam on Twitter.
House Democrats voiced skepticism that no jobs would be lost as a result of the Comcast-NBC Universal deal, during a wide-ranging hearing Thursday before the Judiciary Committee. Members also grilled the companies’ executives on independent programming and diversity in programming and corporate leadership. Republicans seemed more amenable to the deal, though some sought assurances that Comcast would more forcefully address intellectual property issues.
NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker said he respects the FCC’s broadband goals, but isn’t sure that using broadcast spectrum is the way to get there. Broadcast spectrum comes to less than 200 MHz, so even killing over-the-air broadcasting wouldn’t get the FCC the 500 MHz that the commission seeks to free, he said Thursday at a House Judiciary hearing on the company’s deal with Comcast. (See separate report in this issue.) Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said his company won’t take a position until it closes on the deal.
House subcommittees dealing with privacy issues plan to review a draft comprehensive bill by Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., at their next hearing on the subject, said Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Bobby Rush, D-Ill. At a hearing on location-based services Wednesday, Rush promised “our next hearing on privacy will be a legislative hearing.” Rules on location-based services will be part of the larger privacy bill, Boucher said. Republicans said they need to see the draft bill, and warned that any legislation must balance consumer privacy with industry innovation and public safety needs.
House subcommittees dealing with privacy issues plan to review a draft comprehensive bill by Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., at their next hearing on the subject, said Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Bobby Rush, D-Ill. At a hearing on location-based services Wednesday, Rush promised “our next hearing on privacy will be a legislative hearing.” Rules on location-based services will be part of the larger privacy bill, Boucher said. Republicans said they need to see the draft bill, and warned that any legislation must balance consumer privacy with industry innovation and public safety needs.
Sprint Nextel plans to eventually hold phone manufacturers to new green design standards, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse told the Senate Communications Subcommittee at a hearing Tuesday. The carrier also is expanding its cellphone recycling program to credit customers for turning in other carriers’ phones, he said. Senators applauded Sprint’s green efforts, but Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., needled Hesse on early termination fees. Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., said he’s frustrated that more companies haven’t gone green.
With less than a week to go until satellite TV licenses expire, Senate leaders haven’t decided how they would put off a satellite TV shutoff for millions of Americans. A reauthorization or extension of the satellite licenses must pass by Feb. 28 or satellite-TV companies will lose their ability to import distant-content signals legally. A jobs bill that received a cloture vote after our deadline didn’t include satellite TV provisions. A solution may be a separate package to deal with satellite TV and other legislation expiring at month’s end, Senate staffers said.
Storms that closed down the federal government this month delayed the Rural Utilities Service a week in telling round-one broadband-stimulus applicants about awards, said Ken Kuchno, the director of the agency’s broadband program. But the weather didn’t slow the agency’s review work, he said at an Federal Communications Bar Association lunch Friday. “Everybody should know within hopefully a week, no later than beginning of the week after next exactly where everything stands,” he said. The NTIA also plans to finish sending notifications soon, said John Morabito, a senior policy adviser for the agency’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program.
The House Communications and Consumer Protection subcommittees plan a joint hearing Wednesday morning on collection and use of location information for commercial purposes, Hill and industry officials said. The hearing is to start at 10 a.m. in room 2322 of the Rayburn House Office Building. Last month, Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., said he planned to circulate a discussion draft “soon” on planned privacy legislation (CD Jan 28 p3) OR (WID Jan 28 p1).
Small rural telcos must answer questions about practices that large carriers call traffic pumping to increase access revenue, Democratic leaders of the House Commerce Committee told the companies in 24 letters sent late Tuesday. The inquiries follow up on October letters (CD Oct 15 p13) to AT&T, Verizon, Qwest and Sprint Nextel. An attorney for addressees of the new letter said he expects the rural carriers to be eager to cooperate.