Recap: Oversight of the Federal Communications Commission

The House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held an oversight hearing to question all five sitting Federal Communications Commission members about the FCC’s adherence to statutory requirements, its progress on improving the agency and implementing process reform, and the working relationship among Commission members. A fun time was had by all.

Employing sometimes harsh language, lawmakers argued there should be closer scrutiny over the actions of the FCC. The criticisms often reflected a partisan divide present on the Commission itself, which has three Democratic members and two Republicans. With the FCC taking up closely-watched battles over "net neutrality," regulation on set-top boxes by providers such as Amazon and Google, and an upcoming auction for unused portions of the nation’s wireless broadband spectrum, tensions in the frequently-technical debate often ran high. One Republican lawmaker accused the commission’s Democratic majority of violating a commitment to “regulatory humility.” But other lawmakers praised the commission for its action on issues such as capping inmates’ phone rates and working to close the “homework gap” through universal broadband Internet for students across the country.

A hot topic for the day: the status of the FCC's Downloadable Security Technology Advisory Committee (DSTAC) report on set-top box security. DSTAC was created by the Congress in the STELAR Act to come up with a downloadable software successor to the CableCARD set-top security hardware solution. Republicans suggested the FCC had exceeded its STELAR mandate by including a proposal for a device that disaggregated pay-TV video channels and united them with over-the-top offerings. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler pointed out that it was a report, that the comment deadline on the report (reports, since there were two) had just ended, that the FCC had not decided what to do, and that, in any event, the commission would not thwart protections for copyrighted content in the process. But he also said the FCC's mandate in Sec. 629 of the Communications Act was clear: Congress told the FCC to "assure" the availability of competitive navigation devices. Chairman Wheeler said that the reality was that AllVid "was an idea from a half-dozen years ago," from which the world had "moved on substantially." He said that goal of DSTAC was to address the issues she raised and that there were "strong opinions" on both sides. "I can assure you it is no one's goal to thwart the security that protects the sanctity of copyrights" and that the FCC would review the record.

All five FCC commissioners vowed they would not force any broadcaster off the air for failing to meet the 39-month deadline for moving to new channels after next year's incentive auction. If meeting the deadline becomes a problem, Chairman Wheeler said, the FCC will "work it out" with the broadcasters. "This is not a drop-off-the-edge-of-the-table situation.... I totally agree on the importance of local community broadcasting and why it has to remain after the auction."