"Several concerns” worry FCC Inspector General David Hunt, he plans to tell the House Communications Subcommittee Wednesday. “The FCC has refused to allow the IG to hire criminal investigators despite the authority granted to the IG in the IG Act of 1978, as amended,” Hunt said in his pre-filed written testimony (http://1.usa.gov/1s5qnpa). “Criminal investigators are a very much needed resource at this Office, to increase its ability to conduct criminal investigations without consuming the resources of DOJ and the FBI. Further, FCC management retains a right to approve all OIG hires, a requirement which appears to contravene the IG Act and impugn the independence of the OIG.” Hunt will also criticize the FCC Enforcement Bureau’s recently formed USF strike force, referring to concerns “that efforts might be duplicative and resources wasted.” FCC Managing Director Jon Wilkins plans to testify on the agency’s attempts to overhaul its internal processes and other work, despite funding concerns. “Flat funding since 2009, despite the growth in our operational costs, has challenged the FCC’s ability to maintain current service levels,” Wilkins said in his written testimony (http://1.usa.gov/1ydmCAA). “In addition, sequestration created a gap in our budget that not only challenged the FCC’s ability to commit funds to basic programmatic needs, but also introduced budget uncertainties that made it difficult to pursue opportunities to invest in improved efficiency.” The hearing is at 10:15 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.
The House Small Business Committee is gearing up to pepper FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler on Wednesday with a deluge of questions on a wide range of telecom and media topics, according to the 14-page GOP memo released Monday (http://1.usa.gov/1qXbzoR). It includes detailed sections about FCC history, broadband deployment and the role of NTIA; the Rural Utilities Service and USF; net neutrality; spectrum availability; and media consolidation and proposed mergers. Small Business has an FCC oversight hearing scheduled for Wednesday at 1 p.m. in 2360 Rayburn and Wheeler “will discuss among other issues, broadband deployment, Universal Service Fund (USF) reform efforts, net neutrality, wireless spectrum availability, and increasing media concentration through mergers,” the memo said. It emphasized the implications of ongoing FCC actions for small businesses. “Depending on how the FCC addresses various issues raised in the [net neutrality] NPRM, the ability of small business to utilize the Internet for their retail operations could be affected,” the memo said. “Alternatively, small telecommunications carriers that provide broadband service could find their networks over taxed with burgeoning demand and no way to manage their networks.”
House Republicans blasted the FCC for what it judges to be its internal failings. “The FCC’s responses to the Committee’s inquires and requests for documents, as well as reports submitted to Congress by the FCC’s Office of Inspector General, raise additional questions as to the efficacy and fiscal responsibility of the FCC’s efforts to improve process and modernize the agency,” House Communications Subcommittee Republican staff said in a Monday memo (http://1.usa.gov/1q8hOlV). Subcommittee Republicans have “concerns” with FCC “progress on implementation of systemic process and IT reforms” and “concerns with FCC management and staff oversight,” the memo said: “Among the Committee’s concerns are continued reports that highlight misuse of government property and potential personnel management failures.” The memo was released ahead of a Wednesday House Communications Subcommittee hearing on FCC spending and management, scheduled for 10:15 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn. Witnesses are FCC Managing Director Jon Wilkins and Inspector General David Hunt.
The witnesses at Wednesday’s House Judiciary IP subcommittee hearing on copyright protection and management systems will be Mark Richert, American Foundation for the Blind public policy director; Jonathan Zuck, Association for Competitive Technology-The App Association president; Christian Genetski, Entertainment Software Association general counsel; and Corynne McSherry, Electronic Frontier Foundation intellectual property director, said a committee release Monday (http://1.usa.gov/1uzxrYP). The hearing will be at 10 a.m. in 2141 Rayburn.
Sens. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., introduced the Caller ID Scam Prevention Act (S-2787), Klobuchar said in a news release Monday (http://1.usa.gov/1uP8GqK). “Caller ID fraud is a growing problem that threatens the financial well-being of families and seniors,” and the bill would “take important steps to broaden our efforts in the fight against caller ID fraud and ensure our laws are as sophisticated as the criminals using this scheme,” Klobuchar said in a statement. The legislation would tackle criminal tactics by “prohibiting foreigners from falsifying caller ID numbers when calling U.S. consumers and expanding the law to include text messages” and by covering “new internet-based VoIP services that enable callers to make outgoing-only calls from computers and tablets to mobile and landline phones,” the news release said. The legislation has been referred to the Commerce Committee.
Cathy Sandoval, a commissioner on the California Public Utilities Commission, will speak on net neutrality at the Sept. 24 forum convened by Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif. Sandoval was one of two recent CPUC votes in favor of a staff report recommending the FCC reclassify broadband as a Title II telecom service (CD Sept 12 p4). Other speakers at the forum are to be FCC Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel; Chris Kelly, founder of Kelly Investments and Facebook’s former chief privacy officer; Sacramento Public Library Director Rivkah Sass; KVIE Public Television Sacramento President David Lowe; and screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg, responsible for the Twilight film screenplays. The forum will start at 10 a.m. in Hearing Room 4202 of the California State Capitol in Sacramento, a Matsui news release said (http://1.usa.gov/1pgZI0K). Matsui requested public feedback at Matsui_PublicComments@mail.house.gov.
Broadcast affiliates warned Senate Commerce leaders that the Satellite Television Access and Viewer Rights Act could “undermine free access by your constituents and the nation’s television viewers to high quality national network and local broadcast television programming” and is “patently unfair,” in a joint letter Thursday (http://bit.ly/1tPXg9h). “Most troubling is the provision that grants the FCC new authority over several aspects of the broadcast business which no clear record exists to support, and does so without extending that same regulatory authority to cable and satellite companies with whom local stations compete,” said chairmen of the big-four affiliate boards. The bill, which would reauthorize the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act, imposes “negotiation limitations on broadcasters while allowing the largest cable companies in the country to engage in the exact same behavior,” the broadcasters said. “The draft bill also is problematic because it asserts unprecedented extension of FCC regulatory authority over private marketplace negotiations, a step that is contrary to the public interest since it would impede the ability of local broadcast stations to compete in a highly competitive video marketplace for popular national entertainment and sports programming.” The co-founders of Bounce TV, an over-the-air network targeting African Americans, wrote a separate letter to Senate Commerce leaders and argued the retrans provisions would “do serious harm to many local TV station affiliates that have helped us launch Bounce TV,” praising free-market retrans negotiations (http://bit.ly/WUn2dR). The National Consumers League sent a letter to Commerce leaders asking that they return Local Choice to the bill draft -- it was dropped last week after broadcaster outcry over the broadcast a la carte proposal (CD Sept 11 p6). NCL “has long supported federal policies that would end blackouts of programming stemming from retransmission consent negotiations between broadcasters and multichannel video programming distributors,” it said (http://bit.ly/1qsTOjw). “We also support additional choice and bill transparency for cable television subscribers.” Local Choice should become law next year, said the American Television Alliance in a statement Thursday. The coalition, which has many pay-TV companies and Public Knowledge among members, had declined comment the previous day on initial reports that Local Choice would no longer be considered as part of the Commerce STELA reauthorization bill. “Local Choice remains a simple and elegant solution to fix our broken system of retransmission consent,” said the alliance (http://bit.ly/1oD3KkI). It reiterated its backing for the STELA reauthorization bill in other respects. That legislation includes “important reforms that will provide relief for consumers around the country,” the group said. Commerce is expected to mark up the bill Wednesday.
The House Judiciary IP Subcommittee plans a hearing on copyright protection and management systems Wednesday at 10 a.m. in 2141 Rayburn, said a committee news release Friday (http://1.usa.gov/1uzxrYP). The subcommittee plans a Thursday hearing on oversight of the Copyright Office at 2 p.m. in the same room, it said (http://1.usa.gov/1AHlscs). Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante is to be a witness Thursday, it said. No other witnesses were announced.
Among the dozen items the Senate Commerce Committee will consider at its Wednesday executive session are the Satellite Television Access and Viewer Rights Act (S-2799), as long expected (CD Aug 22 p10), and the E-Label Act (S-2583), said an agenda that Commerce released Friday. The House unanimously passed the E-Label Act last week, much to industry satisfaction. “By granting device manufacturers the ability to use eLabels, the legislation eases the technical and logistical burdens on manufacturers and improves consumer access to important device information,” said Telecommunications Industry Association President Grant Seiffert in a statement after the House passage. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., is one of the backers of the Senate version of the E-label bill. The session is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. in 253 Russell.
A new draft of the Satellite Television Access and Viewer Rights Act (S-2799) began circulating among Senate Commerce Committee offices Friday, far shorter than the first version Senate Commerce Committee heads offered up a week before. This version is 14 pages compared to the initial 39. It no longer includes the Local Choice proposal and modifies other provisions included in the draft. The first draft directed the FCC to update good-faith retransmission consent negotiating rules in a rulemaking, looking at blocking of online content. The substitute calls for such an FCC reexamination but makes no mention of online blocking. It still includes provisions on joint retrans negotiation.