Independent programmers face challenges, former FCC commissioners, an ex-FTC chairman and industry experts said Wednesday. Some said even with fragmentation of the TV market increasing ways for consumers to watch content, indies including beIN SPORTS and NuvoTV, which were represented at the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy event, don't always have access to traditional pay-TV distribution. Indies fretted about the impact on their industry of consolidation, but others said the market is good for consumers.
President Barack Obama’s push in November for reclassification of broadband as a common carrier service reshaped the focus of the FCC, which at the time appeared headed to a vote as early as December, stopping short of fundamentally changing how ISPs are regulated (see 1411100033), officials said. More recently, Obama has weighed in hard, urging the FCC to use its authority to remove barriers to municipal broadband deployments (see 1501140048).
Paige Atkins was named associate administrator, Office of Spectrum Management, at NTIA, a key position within that agency on spectrum issues of concern to the wireless industry. She replaces Karl Nebbia, now at Wiley Rein. Atkins had been acting associate administrator since Nebbia left last year. An electrical engineer, Atkins was formerly vice president of Cyber and Information Technology Research at the Virginia Tech Applied Research Corp. and director-strategic planning and information at the Defense Information Systems Agency.
Former FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said Congress should abandon any notion of passing a revised Telecom Act. Copps, now an adviser to Common Cause, said on a Thursday panel at a Multicultural, Media, Telecom and Internet Council's (MMTC) broadband symposium, the real need is for the FCC to enforce the rules already on the books rather than approve new rules.
A partisan rift persisted and clouded prospects for net neutrality legislation Wednesday, which GOP lawmakers in both chambers began circulating in draft form last week. GOP leaders of the Commerce committees held two hearings on legislation they call a bipartisan compromise, spurring plentiful outcry from Democrats. The draft text would codify several net neutrality protections while limiting FCC authority under Communications Act Title II and Telecom Act Section 706. No Democrats have lent any backing, and many observers have guessed a White House veto of a partisan bill is likely.
A growing group of conservatives pressed the FCC to wait for Congress before advancing with its net neutrality proposal. GOP lawmakers released a draft version of net neutrality legislation Friday, prompting pushback from Hill Democrats, Free Press and Public Knowledge (see 1501160048). Republicans said they want Congress to advance the bill, which many frame as a compromise despite current lack of Democratic support and several concerns ahead of Wednesday hearings (see 1501200056), before the FCC votes on net neutrality Feb. 26.
With an FCC vote on classifying mobile and fixed broadband as a Title II common carrier service on tap for Feb. 26, the drum beat against the plan is getting louder. Wireless carriers and associations independently released letters and studies Thursday. FCC officials, meanwhile, are denying the latest rumor that Chairman Tom Wheeler will have the commission vote on interim rather than permanent rules, at least in part, at the meeting. Industry officials on both sides of the issue said the noise level likely will increase leading up to the vote.
Net neutrality advocates were reluctant to embrace the 11 net neutrality principles that Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., released Wednesday, some dubious about what they saw as a dramatic turnaround. Some advocates fear any forthcoming law could restrict FCC ability to act on issues like municipal broadband. Thune’s principles reflect stronger net neutrality protections than have been issued in the past, and haven't yet been released as the legislation he hopes to introduce before the FCC’s Feb. 26 meeting.
Republican leaders of the Commerce committees want what they call a public discussion on a new net neutrality proposal. House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., is partnering with Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D. Some observers see bipartisan congressional resolution of net neutrality debates as the only way to allow an overhaul of the Communications Act later this Congress.
Imposing Title II regulation, with forbearance, on broadband services is a “recipe for disaster,” FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai said Wednesday on a Federal Society teleconference. Pai charged that in the end net neutrality advocates who pushed Title II reclassification with forbearance will turn around and try to keep the FCC from forbearing from key provisions.