Three top House Democrats want the Communications Subcommittee to hold a hearing on industry consolidation, focusing on Comcast’s proposed purchase of Time Warner Cable, AT&T’s proposed purchased of DirecTV and the possibility of a SoftBank/T-Mobile deal. “If approved, these mergers could have a lasting impact on the wireless and broadband marketplace as well as how video programming is produced, distributed, and consumed across multiple platforms, including broadband-delivered video services,” said Commerce Committee ranking member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., in a letter to Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore. (http://1.usa.gov/1q1xEEe). “The Communications and Technology Subcommittee with its oversight jurisdiction over the media and communications sector has a responsibility to ensure these proposals meet the public interest test and truly benefit American consumers.” A GOP aide has previously stressed to us that Walden prefers to watch these deals and let the expert agencies review the transactions, only intervening with a hearing if there are any problematic issues.
House Republicans and Democrats sharply scrutinized the first half year of FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s tenure at the agency. Wheeler appeared before the House Communications Subcommittee for the second time as chairman Tuesday, less than a week after a highly controversial FCC meeting where the agency approved its net neutrality NPRM as well as an item on broadcast TV incentive auction design. Lawmakers of both parties widely focused on net neutrality.
Some Democratic lawmakers applauded the FCC’s move forward with broadcast TV incentive auction rules at its Thursday meeting (see separate report in this issue), with much praise coming from the lead authors of recent letters to the FCC requesting a reserve of spectrum for certain carriers in the auction. Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., who led a letter from House lawmakers to the FCC, lauded the proposal as striking “a good balance that will allow the wireless marketplace to remain competitive.” The proposal “correctly balances the need to promote wireless competition while generating sufficient revenue to fund critical priorities such as FirstNet,” said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who led a similar Senate letter. House Commerce Committee ranking member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., praised the agency for making “smart choices in balancing the congressional objectives of freeing up highly valuable spectrum for mobile broadband, unleashing the next generation of innovative unlicensed services that will one day fulfill the vision of ‘Super Wi-Fi’, and promoting a competitive wireless marketplace by giving carriers large and small a fair chance to bid for and win spectrum at the auction all while guaranteeing full funding of FirstNet.” Waxman had signed onto Matsui’s letter. Waxman urged parties to “redouble our efforts to ensure the auction’s success,” which primarily means “attracting as many willing broadcasters as possible to voluntarily participate in the reverse auction in order to maximize the amount of spectrum available for mobile broadband,” he said. House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., who also signed Matsui’s letter, commended Wheeler for “crafting a balanced set of rules that will raise the necessary funds for FirstNet; advance new unlicensed innovation; and ensure a competitive bidding process where wireless companies of all sizes will have an opportunity to acquire the most valuable, beachfront spectrum.” Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, is pleased “the FCC is holding a future proceeding relating to Low-Power Television and TV translator stations,” he said. “I am a proponent of ensuring that the FCC considers every possible way to protect these stations during the incentive auction, and I anxiously await the future outcome of this proceeding.” Barton said he will champion “greater protection of LPTV and urge my colleagues to do the same,” he said. Don’t restrict bidding in the incentive auction, four senators told the FCC in a letter before its Thursday meeting. “We are concerned that bidding restrictions will have the effect of disincentivizing broadcaster participation because of concerns about reduced returns,” wrote Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio; John Cornyn, R-Texas; Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.; and John Thune, R-S.D., ranking member of the Commerce Committee (http://1.usa.gov/1swfirP). “This could result not only in less spectrum being put back into the market to be used efficiently, but also less revenue generated by the auction.”
The FCC voted 3-2 Thursday to explore the potential of Internet fast lanes, as expected (CD May 15 p1). But Chairman Tom Wheeler wanted to make one point clear: Fast lanes for some will not mean slow lanes for others. “I don’t like the idea that the Internet could become divided into haves and have nots,” he said. “I will work to see that does not happen.” Wheeler said he wants rules in which, if an ISP slows speeds below what the consumer bought, “it would be commercially unreasonable and therefore prohibited.” Republican commissioners said net neutrality rules are a government solution in search of a problem.
Some House Democrats want the FCC to reserve spectrum for some carriers as part of the broadcast-TV incentive auction it plans in mid-2015. “A proposal to reserve a portion of the available licenses for carriers with limited nationwide low-frequency holdings will stimulate auction competition and revenues, ensuring opportunity to bid and win spectrum to enhance and extend rural build out and improve coverage in all areas, while guarding against excessive concentration of spectrum resources,” they told FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler in a letter dated Friday (http://1.usa.gov/1l43BWs). Signers included Rep. Doris Matsui, Calif., the lead signature, along with Commerce Committee ranking member Henry Waxman, Calif., and Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, Calif. Others are House Judiciary Committee ranking member John Conyers, Mich.; Mike Doyle, Pa.; Zoe Lofgren, Calif.; Ben Ray Lujan, N.M.; Jared Polis, Colo.; Armed Services Committee ranking member Adam Smith, Wash.; and Peter Welch, Vt. In other recent letters from Capitol Hill to the FCC, 78 House Democrats pressured the agency to hold “an equal and fair” auction open to all bidders “on equal terms,” and every Republican on the House Communications Subcommittee demanded the agency not place restrictions on any auction bidders. The Competitive Carriers Association hailed Matsui’s letter: “We completely agree that reserving a portion of the 600 MHz spectrum after revenue targets have been satisfied is good for the wireless industry and the economy as a whole,” CEO Steve Berry said in a statement (http://bit.ly/1omJ1Wq). “Allowing the largest two national carriers to buy up all the spectrum would have devastating consequences.” The FCC, at its Thursday meeting, is expected to vote on an incentive auction item (CD May 12 p2).
The public interest must factor into the FCC’s broadcast TV spectrum incentive auction, said Tom Power, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy deputy federal chief technology officer. The agency is putting together what seems to be a “good proposal” that “seems to balance all these interests” of competition and revenue, Power said Friday at a Capitol Hill spectrum policy event hosted by the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council. The FCC will consider an item on the auction at its Thursday meeting.
Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., attacked in a blog post for The Hill Tuesday the notion of paid data prioritization deals. “Allowing deals for prioritization could easily be used to favor some content at the expense of others and be used as a barrier to entry for a small startup without the resources to buy access to an Internet fast lane,” Matsui said (http://bit.ly/1iYOQRY). “We need open Internet rules that encourage companies to compete for customers without striking special deals.” She encouraged people to weigh in on net neutrality with the FCC. Net neutrality means there shouldn’t be any “'gatekeepers,’ or toll roads,” she said. The FCC is expected to vote May 15 on a net neutrality NPRM (CD May 6 p1).
To realize the potential of telehealth services, Congress must help set a definition, solve restrictive licensing procedures, protect the privacy of data transfers and alter outdated payment and reimbursement language of Medicare, witnesses told the House Subcommittee on Health Thursday. Within the decade, “telehealth will simply become healthcare,” said Kofi Jones, vice president-public affairs of telehealth company American Well. Congress can aid the process through encouraging research and by crafting legislation to ensure the entire population -- urban dwellers, not just rural residents -- can receive telehealth treatment, said Ateev Mehrotra, a professor of healthcare policy at Harvard Medical School.
Congress needs to provide “an on-going commitment to policies that ensure wireless providers have access to a significant and predictable supply of spectrum,” CTIA told House lawmakers in comments on the House Communications Subcommittee white paper issued as part of its Communications Act update process. Comments, which were due Friday, weren’t immediately released but a committee spokesman told us comments will likely be posted on the House Commerce Committee website in the same manner responses to its first white paper were earlier this year. CTIA and some others made their comments available to us.
Some members of Congress are cringing at the basic idea of the FCC reinstating net neutrality rules, as others balk at reports of what these new rules will look like. Three House lawmakers have an especially keen interest in any new FCC net neutrality rules, they all said during an episode of C-SPAN’s The Communicators set to be telecast Saturday. Two Republican members of Congress cautioned against any agency attempts at restoring net neutrality rules, which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated in a January ruling, while a Democrat viewed the possibility of new rules more hopefully.