The NAB said it would be working to overturn FCC’s decision to reject broadcasters’ request that cable companies be required to carry all broadcast TV digital signals. “NAB will be working to overturn today’s anti- consumer FCC decision in both the courts and in Congress. We look forward to the fight,” NAB Pres. Eddie Fritts said in a statement. Fritts wasn’t present at the meeting. While the NAB weighs its next option, attorney Burt Carp said the association may lobby to have the issue pushed in Congress’ digital transition bill.
More electronic privacy bills will be introduced soon on Capitol Hill, said congressional sources. Language from the 108th Congress is being updated, and early negotiations are underway for a generic privacy bill that will treat the issue categorically, rather than through misdeeds associated with individual technologies.
Industry is cautiously optimistic about more targeted antispyware legislation introduced earlier this month in the House. In a House Commerce Committee hearing Wed., executives from Microsoft and EarthLink praised HR-29 and said it was a considerable improvement over an earlier version that passed the House almost unanimously last year but failed to win Senate support.
Chmn. Powell announced Fri. he will leave the FCC in March. With key issues pending for all communications sectors, sources agreed the next chmn. is likely to maintain Powell’s policies in the broadest sense, including an emphasis on competition and on promoting new technologies.
While a bill to impose liability on entities that induce copyright infringement is scheduled for a markup today (Thurs.), opponents of the latest draft hope Senate Judiciary Committee members will force a further postponement. Few committee members besides the bill’s sponsors, Chmn. Hatch (R-Utah) and ranking Democrat Leahy (Vt.), have involved themselves with the legislation introduced in June. At a July hearing, only Hatch and Leahy attended.
While a bill to impose liability on entities that induce copyright infringement is scheduled for a markup today (Thurs.), opponents of the latest draft hope Senate Judiciary Committee members will force a further postponement. Few committee members besides the bill’s sponsors, Chmn. Hatch (R-Utah) and ranking Democrat Leahy (Vt.), have involved themselves with the legislation introduced in June. At a July hearing, only Hatch and Leahy attended.
LOS ANGELES -- CEO Pat Mitchell acknowledged PBS was feeling the pressure of the FCC-driven obscenity crackdown. Speaking to TV critics here, Mitchell said: “All media companies are feeling pressure. We filed a petition immediately with the FCC saying we are worried about the chilling effect of these interpretive standards. And they are being pretty aggressive in their interpretation. But we cannot make one decision the way a network can. We have to err on the side of restraint because we can’t make any of our stations subject to fines.”
MANCHESTER, N.H. -- The digital migration isn’t just about technology, it’s about “the infrastructure for U.S. competitiveness, period,” FCC Chmn. Powell told a town meeting here Tues. sponsored by the N.H. High Technology Council. Broadband networks will affect the future competitiveness of the U.S. economy, he said. With the overseas outsourcing of jobs an issue in the Presidential campaign, “I've wondered why we don’t outsource jobs to Appalachia or the Mississippi Delta -- with broadband networks in place, we could,” Powell said.
The 9th U.S. Appeals Court, San Francisco, Fri. granted FCC and NCTA petitions to stay the ruling involving the FCC’s regulatory classification of cable modem services. The NCTA and FCC filed motions to stay the appeals court ruling that let stand a ruling by a 3-judge panel striking down the FCC’s decision that cable modems should be classified as an information and not a telecom service (CD April 8 p.11). “We will now turn our attention to developing our formal appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and look forward to having this case decided on it merits,” said Dan Brenner, NCTA’s senior vp, law and regulatory policy. The NCTA has until the end of June to make its appeal to the high court. Earlier, the Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union and Center for Digital Democracy joined Earthlink in opposing the motions to stay. Consumer groups and ISP Brand X had brought the case Brand X v. FCC. They said the decision to classify cable modem services as telecom services would help consumers by letting them choose among multiple ISPs operating over cable systems, as with dial-up. But the cable industry claimed it potentially opened cable operators to common carrier regulation and open-access requirements on high-speed Internet products.
The FCC’s emphasis on VoIP is fine but the FCC should first make sure the underlying broadband infrastructure is deployed throughout the country, FCC Comr. Copps said Wed. at a symposium sponsored by Mich. State U.’s Quello Center. “No matter how enthusiastic the rhetoric [about VoIP], IP technologies will only reach their potential if the infrastructure is there,” he said. “We should be thinking larger thoughts,” Copps said: “If we ever needed a national conference on how to deal with disruptive technology it’s now.”