Congress

Five Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s telecom subcommittee are voicing their displeasure with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s performance at an oversight hearing last month. “While we appreciate your continued willingness to testify before our Committee this year, we are concerned that at our most recent hearing you were unable to give complete responses to nearly half of the questions posed directly to you by Democratic members of the Subcommittee,” the members said in a letter dated Dec. 2 that was obtained by The Hill.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Former “Little House on the Prairie” star Melissa Gilbert announced her candidacy for a Michigan congressional seat on Monday, saying “fresh voices” are needed to help […]

Add House commerce committee leaders to the growing list of disappointed GOP commissioners, industries and groups that find the FCC’s incentive auction procedures, adopted Thursday in a party-line vote, well short of the mark.

A group of five Democratic Senators warned FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler that putting TV broadcasters in the duplex gap could inhibit live, local news, emergency communications and space for unlicensed uses. The FCC is set to vote Thursday on spectrum auction procedures that include a proposal to allow it to repack TV stations in the duplex gap, the 11 MHz of space between the uplink and downlink frequencies in the mobile spectrum.

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers introduced a bill that would exempt TV stations in joint sales agreements from unwinding them under a new FCC rule. Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) introduced the bill, which would grandfather current JSAs allowed by the FCC prior to the new rule passed in March 2014 in a party-line vote.

House Energy and Commerce leadership is urging FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to postpone Thursday’s scheduled vote on the incentive auction procedures after the agency released last-minute data.

Former WJLA Washington anchor and Marriott executive Kathleen Matthews on Wednesday launched her candidacy for Maryland’s 8th District congressional seat, kicking off her 2016 campaign with an early morning announcement.

Nearly 60 lawmakers have signed on to a “dear colleague” letter to ensure that a broad tax reform package does not change the current tax deduction for advertising expenses.

When it comes to who in Congress has sway over media and tech issues, look no further than Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.). As chairman of the communications and technology subcommittee, Walden, a ham radio operator and former broadcaster, has been trying to get some changes at how the FCC does its business for the better part of three Congresses. And he’s not about to give up now.

Commercial drones would get their wings under a new bill introduced Tuesday by Sens. Cory Booker and John Hoeven. The Commercial UAS Modernization Act would set interim guidelines for the testing and use of commercial drones while the Federal Aviation Administration finalizes its rules. In addition, the bill would give the FAA more oversight authority by creating a deputy administrator exclusively responsible for the safe integration of drones in U.S. airspace.

Many in Congress would no doubt like to stick it to FCC chief Tom Wheeler for some of his bold moves. Now they have a chance. Four senators have introduced a bill that would grandfather existing JSAs. Passage would give a nice boost to broadcasters who do nothing but provide a superior news and entertainment TV service to the American public free of charge. And it would show that Congress still has some say in FCC affairs. Addendum: The NAB is going to ask the FCC to give broadcasters more time to move their channels during the incentive auction repack. The FCC should grant it because it just can’t be done in 39 months.

A group of six of the most liberal Democratic Senators led by Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), introduced a bill Thursday to make super PAC spending more transparent by compelling the disclosure of the major donors behind radio and TV ads.

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It got more than a little tense during a House hearing on FCC transparency even though both Republicans and Democrats had offered up bills to make the agency more open and accountable to the public.

Democrats countered three GOP-sponsored bills to reform the FCC processes with their own proposals, setting up a partisan brawl over how the commission should conduct its business. The proposals were unveiled just a couple of hours before the House communications and technology subcommittee was scheduled to hold a 2 p.m. hearing on the GOP bills.

Even as the House GOP keeps the FCC’s budget on a tight leash, it is increasing its scrutiny of the commission’s plan to save money by consolidating its field offices.

Lia Green, president-GM of KOTA Rapid City, Iowa: “The current rules governing broadcast television have fostered a strong spirit of localism, diverse programming options that have served our viewers well. I hold hope that our policymakers in Washington, D.C., will keep these goals in mind with laws that support local stations.”

Washington is full of minefields for broadcasters. But at no time has the regulatory and legislative environment been so littered with tripwires. As broadcasters gather this week in Las Vegas for the NAB Show, D.C. will take center stage. The issues broadcasters are facing in Washington could have a profound affect on the business. It all depends on what Washington regulators and legislators will decide to do.

Expect Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) to introduce a Resolution of Disapproval of the FCC’s net neutrality rules the day Congress returns on April 13. A disapproval resolution to block the FCC’s rules requires only a simple majority in both chambers to pass, but it would likely be stopped by President Obama’s veto pen.

FCC chairman Tom Wheeler will be back in the witness chair this week, facing two more committees that intend to keep up the heat following the commission’s 3-2 party-line vote to treat Internet service as a utility.

Top White House aides met with the head of the FCC at least nine times while it was working on strong Internet regulations without telling the public, House Republicans revealed today.  Agency head Tom Wheeler defended the lack of disclosure about the meetings during a hearing in the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday, claiming that the tough new net neutrality rules never came up in those talks.

Today, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will convene the first hearing on the subject since the FCC voted last month to put the Internet in the same regulatory camp as the telephone, using the 1934 Communications Act. This means that whenever a company provides an Internet connection, it has to act in the public interest and not do anything considered “unjust or unreasonable.”

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler will appear before five congressional committees over the next two weeks, facing off with Republicans over his net neutrality plan.

Robert Kenny, director of public affairs for TVfreedom.org: “The ability of local broadcast TV stations to serve our nation’s local communities rests on the existence of viable revenue streams that Congress has traditionally made available to promote local television service. Compromising the ability of local TV stations to compete for such revenue streams would create a regulatory imbalance that would threaten the unique benefits of localism and ultimately jeopardize the future of local broadcast TV.”

Republicans in Congress are doing a 180 on net neutrality as the FCC  prepares to issue new rules. For years, GOP lawmakers have adamantly opposed any rules requiring Internet service providers to treat all Web traffic equally, calling them unnecessary and an example of Washington overreach. But now that the FCC is moving toward issuing a tough net neutrality order that would subject broadband to utility-style regulation — an approach endorsed by President Barack Obama — top Republicans in both chambers are making plans to legislate their own rules to ensure the agency doesn’t go too far.

AT&T, Comcast and Verizon have donated heavily to incoming members of Congress, cultivating early relationships with the next generation of lawmakers and surpassing the efforts of Internet companies like Google and Facebook, which are just beginning to up their game in Washington. The three wireless and cable giants last election cycle cast a wide net. They targeted many of the 65 newcomers to Capitol Hill along with scores of familiar incumbents as the industry prepares for new legislative battles in 2015 over net neutrality and other communications laws.

The Republican victory is bad news for FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, who will likely face uncomfortable oversight hearings and investigations. Republicans will try to repeal any net-neutrality rules, although it’s hard to see them overriding a veto. They will probably push “process reform” legislation that they say would improve transparency and accountability at the FCC, but Democrats fear it would just hamper the FCC’s authority over mergers and other issues.

A close look at FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s proposal to make online video distributors [OVDs] the regulatory and legal equal of cable and satellite with all the same rights and obligations means such services, including Aereo, would be subject to retransmission consent. This is a big deal and broadcasters at all levels will need to be fully engaged in the rulemaking to make sure it doesn’t go bad.

Broadcast lobbyists have been successful in knocking out two of the provisions from Senate legislation designed to hobble broadcasters’ ability to negotiate for retrans payments. And as the legislation is reconciled with the companion House bill and moves toward final passage, it’s unlikely to get worse for broadcasters and could become better.

While his day-time health show reaches millions, Dr. Oz has come under fire for endorsing nutrition supplements with dubious efficacy. Today, Oz was on Capitol Hill to testify on a Senate hearing about such weight loss scams, and to address his role in providing fodder for false advertisements.

The House Energy and Commerce Communications subcommittee will hear Wednesday from a handful of media groups, coalitions and the head of the FCC’s Media Bureau about whether the existing rules have stood the test of time, especially as new forms of news and entertainment have taken hold online and on cable channels.

NAB’s practice of letting members of Congress record public service announcements for free could be serving another purpose that benefits the industry, based on an analysis of lawmaker participation.  The free airtime on community stations has drawn watchdogs’ attention as broadcasters are trying to showcase the importance of local radio and fight against possible new royalty fees for stations.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler tells Congress that broadcasters’ blocking pay TV subs access to online content during retrans negotiations concerns him. Wheeler did not tell lawmakers during the hearing what retrans blackouts had specifically raised his concerns, or what in particular he planned to do about it.

Pay TV industry lobbyists are continuing  to urge lawmakers to add provisions to the STELA legislations that would substantially reduce broadcasters’ retrans negotiating leverage. But the real threat on retrans looms at the FCC. The chairman there “is demonstrably hostile to the terrestrial broadcast system,” says one leading broadcast attorney.

Congress will try to establish who is to blame for at least 13 auto-related deaths over the past decade, as public hearings are launched on General Motors’ slow response to defective ignition switches in cars.

The NAB’s annual State Leadership Conference is designed to offer legislative and legal updates and get broadcasters from around the country to talk to their congressional representatives.