Network operators have enough incentive to protect networks from cyber attacks, major telecom industry officials said Wednesday at a House Communications Subcommittee hearing. But legislators should remove barriers to information sharing, promote cybersecurity education and invest in research and development, they said. The witnesses said new mandates are unnecessary and potentially burdensome. “We don’t know what it is that you should be telling us to be doing,” said AT&T Chief Security Officer Edward Amoroso.
The House Commerce Committee’s request for LightSquared documents from the FCC (CD March 2 p13) was a “big move” toward confirming FCC nominees Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., told us. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, won’t lift a block he has placed on the nominees until he gets documents on communications among the FCC, White House and LightSquared investor Harbinger. “What I've heard is that Sen. Grassley simply wanted to get his hands on those emails, and he’s getting them” from the House Commerce Committee, the Senate Commerce Committee chairman said after the weekly Senate policy lunches on Tuesday. “It’s my belief that [Grassley] doesn’t care so much where he gets [the documents] from but that he gets them.”
Republicans beat back Democratic opposition to a broad proposal to revamp FCC process, approving HR-3309 by a 31-16 vote Tuesday. But Democrats joined Republicans in supporting by voice vote an amended HR-3310 to consolidate FCC reports. The bills next move to the House floor. But the Democratic-controlled Senate has shown little interest in FCC revamp.
FCC process bill HR-3309 “would disable the FCC, not reform it,” House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., said at a markup that started late Monday. But Republicans said the bill would make the commission more transparent and accountable, benefiting the communications sector. Members won’t vote until Tuesday on HR-3309 and a separate bill (HR-3310) to consolidate many FCC reports. “Independent experts have told us [HR-3309] would tie the [FCC] in knots and subject it to endless legal challenges,” Waxman said. The Democrat suggested a separate bill on one provision of the bill he supports -- allowing more than two commissioners to meet behind closed doors. The Republicans “rejected this suggestion, which dooms the entire package and raises serious questions about why we are doing this bill at all,” Waxman said. Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., countered that HR-3309 merely “asks the FCC to go through a process similar to what we've gone through in crafting it, and to implement some of the reforms that the House itself adopted just last year.” The bill “does not change the public interest standard that the FCC uses to approve or deny a merger,” Walden said. “If the FCC determines that a merger of two media companies is against the public interest, it can deny it.” Walden doesn’t anticipate litigation over the bill because the bill draws from executive orders and requires the FCC to implement the bill through rulemaking, he said. Democrats are expected to support HR-3310 to consolidate FCC reports, after the committee accepts an amendment (CD Feb 6 p1). Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., urged approval. “By looking at the marketplace as a whole rather than in traditional silos, the FCC and the American public will be better informed about existing competition and any barriers” to job creation, Upton said. The markup is scheduled to resume at 10 a.m. in Room 2123, Rayburn Building.
An Arizona company is marketing license preparation services for spectrum the FCC is not even close to making available, is not accepting applications for, and which may have little value when it does, Communications Daily learned from company documents and interviews. The company, Smartcomm LLC of Phoenix, also has charged up to 280 times what others are charging for similar license preparation services.
An Arizona company is marketing license preparation services for spectrum the FCC is not even close to making available, is not accepting applications for, and which may have little value when it does, Communications Daily learned from company documents and interviews. The company, Smartcomm LLC of Phoenix, also has charged up to 280 times what others are charging for similar license preparation services.
Rural Utilities Service Administrator Jonathan Adelstein defended the pace of broadband stimulus projects and the failure of Open Range Communications, at a budget hearing Thursday of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture. The White House’s FY 2013 budget proposal provides “adequate” broadband funding for rural areas, Adelstein said. RUS is studying the impact of the recent Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation overhaul, he said.
If Republicans gain control of the Senate, free-market hero Jim DeMint could lead the Senate Commerce Committee after the unexpected announcement Tuesday that Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, will not seek re-election (CD Feb 29 p14). DeMint, a Republican senator from South Carolina and the ranking member of the Communications Subcommittee, is next in line by seniority to replace retiring Ranking Member Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas. DeMint is a staunch conservative and tea party favorite who marks a sharp contrast to the moderate Snowe.
The retransmission consent system is outdated and the resulting blackouts harm consumers caught in the middle, National Taxpayers Union Vice President Andrew Moylan said Wednesday at the Institute for Policy Innovation summit. Moylan supported the deregulatory TV bills (S-2008, HR-3675) by Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La. The federal government should not have its “thumbs on the scale,” controlling how negotiations are done, Moylan said. Instead of “retinkering the scales,” the DeMint/Scalise legislation gets “rid of the hurdles.” The legislation is “not a silver bullet” and there will still likely be some arguments and blackouts, he said. However, Navigent Economics Managing Director Jeffrey Eisenach warned against “blowing up” the current system, which he said is working fine and doesn’t need fixing. Repealing it would force companies seeking to carry content to negotiate “an incredibly complex set of contracts” with the original content owners, he said. The DeMint/Scalise bills don’t propose “a movement to the free market” because retrans deals are already privately negotiated and the FCC’s job is only to enforce them, he said. Moylan said it’s doubtful the DeMint/Scalise legislation will pass during this Congress. The path to passage this year “is going to be difficult,” he said. “But I think it’s important that they've laid down this marker now.” DeMint’s possible ascension to chairman or ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee (see separate report in this issue) increases the chances of getting a “fair hearing” for the proposal, he said.
If Republicans gain control of the Senate, free-market hero Jim DeMint could lead the Senate Commerce Committee after the unexpected announcement Tuesday that Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, will not seek re-election (CD Feb 29 p14). DeMint, a Republican senator from South Carolina and the ranking member of the Communications Subcommittee, is next in line by seniority to replace retiring Ranking Member Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas. DeMint is a staunch conservative and tea party favorite who marks a sharp contrast to the moderate Snowe.