House Commerce Committee Republican leaders are not happy...
House Commerce Committee Republican leaders are not happy with how the FCC is handling TV station sharing agreements, most recently singling out the Media Bureau public notice Wednesday that it would apply extra scrutiny to the approval of such sharing…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
agreements (CD March 14 p9). “Coming on the heels of the House’s overwhelming bipartisan approval of the FCC Process Reform Act Monday evening, the FCC Media Bureau’s action not only flies in the face of reform, it reveals an alarming disregard for process,” said Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., in a statement Thursday. “This effort raises questions about Chairman [Tom] Wheeler’s stated commitment to process reform. This end-run around the full commission is a step back for transparency and reform.” Walden inserted language into his draft legislation of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act that would prevent the FCC from making sharing agreements attributable until the agency completes its quadrennial review. “On the [joint sales agreements], the FCC needs to follow the law,” Walden told reporters following a subcommittee hearing Wednesday. “For the life of me, I don’t understand why they can’t follow the law and finish their quadrennial review.” The agency is “disrupting a marketplace dealing with an issue that really has to deal with ownership,” Walden added. “The quadrennial review is about ownership. What we're saying is, ‘Do your job, follow the law before you go out there and picking and choosing on the JSA issue that could have enormous disruption.'"