Team Telecom Reviews Need More Structure

The Federal Communications Commission has clarified our past broadcast foreign ownership restrictions and now needs to consider ways to take the next step. I have made the case previously that this means we must clearly permit greater foreign ownership in order to open the doors to new capital and opportunities for US broadcasters while at the same time hopefully laying the groundwork for similar treatment of US investors abroad. And I very much appreciate the Chairman’s commitment to move forward on this issue in the near term.

The biggest obstacle to making improvements quickly, however, is the opaque and sometimes unending review process used by what's commonly known as Team Telecom (i.e., a working group of representatives from the Federal government entities charged with ensuring national security: the Departments of Homeland Security, Defense, Justice, State, Treasury, and Commerce, as well as United States Trade Representative and the FBI). The way to break the stalemate is to set a definitive process that the FCC will follow in working with Team Telecom.