December 2016

CenturyLink says a request from a consortium of parties, including Microsoft, to extend E-Rate services to rural students' homes is not in line with the way the statute was written. The telecommunication company said in an Federal Communications Commission filing that if the FCC granted the petitions, the regulator would actually cause more harm than good to the E-Rate program. “Despite good intentions, however, the petitions to use E-rate funded bandwidth without cost allocation would be inconsistent with the statute, raise too many problems, create too many distortions, and create too many risks for the E-rate program,” CenturyLink said. “The petitions also cannot be granted by the Bureau on delegated authority, but need review and rulemaking by the full commission.”

The National Association of Broadcasters is praising a bipartisan effort by a handful of senators to make sure there is enough money to cover the costs of TV station moves after the spectrum auction and that stations can't be forced to meet a moving deadline for reasons beyond their control. But it would also impose a "penalty" on stations that did not meet the deadlines of a phased transition absent those extenuating circumstances. There is currently a $1.75 billion relocation fund, which is looking larger every time the Federal Communications Commission reduces the amount of spectrum it is reclaiming from broadcasters in the auction and thus increases the space in which to repack stations—the FCC is now in its third reduction.

But in case that does not prove sufficient, Sens Jerry Moran (R-KS), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Tom Udall (D-NM), Deb Fischer (R-NE), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) have drafted a bill, the Viewer Protection Act of 2016, that would create a Viewer Protection Fund. Rep Frank Pallone (D-NJ) proposed a similar discussion draft last January, putting a figure of $1 billion on the fund. The senators did not have a figure in mind, at least not in the draft NAB supplied, but simply such sums as "are necessary to provide reimbursements for relocation costs to 1 or more broadcast television licensees" if the initial funds are exhausted.

House Commerce Committee Chairman-elect Greg Walden (R-OR) announced that Mike Bloomquist, Karen Christian, Peter Kielty, and Paul Edattel will continue to serve the committee. All are longtime veterans of Capitol Hill.

Bloomquist will serve as Deputy Staff Director for the Committee. He has served in this position since August 2015. In addition, he previously served as the Committee General Counsel, Deputy General Counsel, as well as General Counsel to the 2011 Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. Further, Mike has spent time in private practice, at the Committee on Science, and in the Office of the US Department of the Interior. Christian will continue as Committee General Counsel, a position she has held since October 2014. Previously, she served as Chief Counsel for the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee from 2012-2014, and was a member of the O&I staff since 2006. Karen spearheaded the Committee’s oversight of the Healthcare.gov failure and the federal loan guarantee to Solyndra. Her previous experience includes serving as counsel to the Committee on House Administration, a clerkship with a US District judge and time spent in private practice. Kielty will serve as Deputy General Counsel of the Committee. Kielty is a 15-year veteran of the Committee, and has served as Deputy General Counsel since 2012. Peter has advised on the parliamentary and jurisdictional matters before the Committee. Edattel will continue to serve as Chief Counsel to the Subcommittee on Health. Paul started with the Committee in 2011 and has served as Chief Health Counsel since 2016, after serving Speaker John Boehner as his health policy advisor. Paul also served as a Legislative Director in the House of Representatives before joining the Committee.