Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., is “working diligently” to preserve a strong net neutrality rule that keeps “the hallmark of the Internet -- by treating all data and content equally,” she said Wednesday at a Facebook small-business event in Sacramento, Calif., according to her prepared remarks. “This concept would preserve the ability of all small businesses to compete on a level playing field to sell their goods and services online.” She praised the power of social media marketing. It can “increase exposure and traffic to your company, help you develop loyal fans, improve your search ranking and improve sales,” Matsui said.
President Barack Obama weighed in on net neutrality in remarks that net neutrality advocates widely say condemn paid prioritization deals and may even warrant FCC reclassification of broadband as a Title II Communications Act service. Others said it’s a stretch to read Obama’s words that way or to contend there’s any split between him and the independent agency. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler launched a rulemaking for crafting net neutrality rules earlier this year and has defended it as asking questions, not yet prescribing any one path forward.
A bipartisan group of House lawmakers introduced the Wi-Fi Innovation Act Wednesday. It’s a companion bill to one that Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., introduced earlier this summer. Its backers in the House are Communications Subcommittee Vice Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio; subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif.; and Reps. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., and Darrell Issa, R-Calif. “The Wi-Fi Innovation Act paves a pathway to maximize the use of spectrum and examine ways to expand the deployment of wireless networks and services across the country, so all can benefit from this next-generation technology,” Latta said in a statement. The legislation “directs the FCC to determine the extent to which unlicensed spectrum can be shared and utilized in increasingly innovative ways to benefit consumers and our economy,” Eshoo said. The bill says the FCC should run tests on possible interference in the 5 GHz band, and prompts a study on different barriers to Wi-Fi deployment in low-income areas.
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., assembled several liberal senators to ask the FCC to reclassify broadband as a Title II telecom service. Many Republicans and much of industry have opposed the move to reclassify, but Markey said it’s necessary for stronger net neutrality rules that would prohibit paid prioritization deals. Tuesday had been the initial comments deadline for the FCC’s net neutrality rulemaking proceeding, though the agency postponed the deadline. (See separate report above in this issue.)
Despite expressing some misgivings, Democratic FCC commissioners voted 3-2 along party lines Friday to approve what Chairman Tom Wheeler called a “watershed” E-rate modernization order that will provide $1 billion annually for the next five years for Wi-Fi connections within schools and libraries. In moves observers saw as having been made to forge a commission majority, while giving a nod to concerns from Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. (CD July 9 p5), and others that the Wi-Fi commitment could endanger funding for connecting schools and libraries to broadband, the order underwent a few changes from Wheeler’s original draft (CD July 2 p2).
"I'm not going to endorse any effort to do otherwise,” Leahy said at the field hearing. “The open Internet principles are the bill of rights for the online world."
Congressional Democrats introduced bicameral legislation Tuesday that would end paid prioritization deals. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., released the bill, attracting some industry pushback as well as praise from consumer advocates. After approving, on a party-line vote, a net neutrality NPRM last month that critics said would allow fast lines, the FCC now is looking into interconnection deals between ISPs and websites like Netflix (CD June 17 p2).
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.”