Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., praised and slapped the FCC in...
Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., praised and slapped the FCC in the same statement about commission process. “The Commission has come a long way on process recently, but I am afraid it still has a ways to go,” the House Communications…
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Subcommittee chairman said Wednesday. Of the FCC’s report this week on broadband speeds (CD Aug 3 p2), Walden said the FCC “selected a commercial vendor through open, competitive bids; used a transparent process to partner with stakeholders; and leveraged its technical expertise.” That resulted in “a path-breaking study helpful to all broadband consumers,” Walden said. “Just as important, the Commission recognized the limits of its work and declined to make conclusions where its data were too limited.” But Walden criticized FCC process leading to a controversial rule on program carriage (CD Aug 2 p10). “The FCC based these rules on a four-year old Notice of Proposed Rule Making that did not provide the text of a single proposed rule and did not clearly indicate a standstill rule was on the table,” Walden said. “Regardless of one’s position on the merits of the ruling, this needlessly opens the order to challenge and weakens the FCC’s credibility.” Walden’s subcommittee is considering FCC process reform legislation that would include a rule requiring the FCC to publish proposed rules before adopting them. Walden hasn’t yet introduced a bill, but circulated a draft in June. The FCC didn’t comment.