Copps Expects Approval Next Week of Multicast Rules
Multicast must-carry rules are on the “fast track” for approval at the Feb. 10 FCC meeting (see note on full agenda in this issue), Comr. Copps said Thurs. at a meeting with reporters. Copps indicated he would vote in favor of the rules, though he’s disappointed with the rulemaking process. Copps also said the Commission is overdue to move forward on intercarrier compensation (ICC) reform, starting with a vote at the same meeting on a proposed rulemaking. Copps encouraged companies and groups that quit the Intercarrier Compensation Forum (ICF) to consider rejoining.
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Copps called on the FCC to hold 1/2 its 2005 agenda meetings around the country to reach out beyond D.C.
He opened with a statement on the challenging media issues that face the Commission this year, led by the multicast must-carry rules. “I'll be making a statement that there are parts of it I'm not terribly pleased about,” Copps said. The Commission should finish its work on the localism proceeding before making a final decision on multicast must-carry, he said.
“We are short-circuiting some important dialog integral to the discussion of DTV transition,” Copps said: “Why didn’t we finish that proceeding, for example?” He also said the Commission hadn’t dealt with rules that outline the public interest responsibilities of broadcasters, an effort begun in 1998: “That’s come to a halt and I thought we would have that last fall.” Broadcasters are pressuring the Commission to defer a vote on the rules, and are planning to go to court if the rule is passed.
Public participation is a major issue that Copps said the FCC should put on its to-do list for this year. He suggested the Commission conduct at least 6 agenda meetings locations outside Washington so people elsewhere could participate. “We need to show the American people how this place works -- let them see the dialog,” he said.
Addressing media ownership rules is another major priority for the FCC, Copps said. “I think the fight is just beginning. I've just begun to fight,” he said. Since the federal govt. declined to take the media ownership appeal case to the Supreme Court (CD Jan 28 p3), it’s up to the FCC to recraft rules, probably on a “piecemeal” basis, Copps said. However, he said that since the rules are linked, “one can’t consider one without the interrelation of the other… Congress has told us what they thought about it. The American people told us what they thought about it and now we have a 2nd chance to do it right… I think the citizen’s interest is still there and this is a huge story.”
On intercarrier compensation, Copps said the issue will be difficult but he’s anxious to launch a rulemaking. “My first concern is that we get it done and I've been pushing this for a long time,” he said: “I've had numerous talks with the chairman going back way more than a year, saying we need to get this done. We need to put out an NPRM. We need to indicate in that NPRM that there is closure at some point.” He said the FCC should avoid a rulemaking that contains many tentative conclusions.
“I would like to see us get as far as we can toward a resolution of this problem,” Copps said. “At the end of the day you might have to go to the Hill but I don’t know.” Based on his many years working for the Senate he said he expected Congress would be pleased if the FCC can fashion a solution on its own.
Copps said he wasn’t convinced that the Commission needed to adopt a bill & keep approach. “It sounds wonderful if you do away with all of these cross-currents and payments and all of that,” he said: “But you've got to look at the end of the road and what’s the effect particularly on some of the rural carriers. Because a bill & keep system isn’t going to work if it becomes harder for the rural guys to build and harder for the rural guys to keep.” Copps praised the ICF for its submission: “They worked long. They worked hard. Some of them stayed at it until the very end.”
Copps said the FCC may have to step on toes to complete an ICC order: “When was the last decision we made that made everybody happy?” he asked. “I'm not saying that we're going to have happy Nirvana at the end of the road or anything like that but we can sure do better than we are right now.”
Copps also said he will take the lone Democrat comr. seat on the Joint Board on Universal Service from his colleague Comr. Adelstein. “Universal service reform is something that’s going to be on everybody’s radar scope,” he said: “I intend to be closely involved in that.” Copps said the Commission needs to ask the “big” questions. “What does that mean, universal service in the 21st century?” he said. “As voice migrates to new technologies how do you make those new technologies universally available?”
Copps had little to say on the proposed AT&T-SBC merger, except that he wanted to hear from the companies’ executives “how this inures to the public interest, how this serves consumers in America” as well as from consumer groups, labor unions and other interested parties. Copps said he would favor asking wireline carriers to submit the same kind of data collected from wireless carriers during the Cingular-AT&T Wireless proceeding, if deemed necessary. “This is a huge merger,” he said. “We'd better hear from all parties and solicit all the data that we need to make an intelligent decision… Let’s get what’s required.”
Copps said he had started to review the order on the AT&T prepaid calling card petition but wouldn’t discuss his views while the order was circulating.