Benton's Communications-related Headlines For Saturday April 1, 2006

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BREAKING NEWS...

TELECOM REFORM BILL SIGNED BY PRESIDENT
[SOURCE: Various]
Washington insiders rolled their eyes earlier this week when House
Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX) "bet" that President
Bush would sign a new telecommunications law this year. But, in
perhaps the most unprecedented show of majority power in the nation's
history, that is exactly what happened over the last 12 hours. In
votes cast in the wee hours of Saturday morning, the House and Senate
passed, by narrow majorities, the Telecommunications Competition and
Investment Act of 2006. President Bush signed it without a ceremony
after a quick return from a visit to Mexico just a few hours ago.
Because of the timing of the votes -- held when even C-SPAN cameras
were dark -- and the President's signature, coverage of the new
legislation is spotty. The Telecom Act of 2006, as some are already
referring to the bill, aims to increase competition in the video
delivery market by allowing easily entry for telephone companies like
AT&T and Verizon. Apparently, the process for awarding truly
"national" franchises has been streamlined for these new entrants so
that they may simply inform the Securities & Exchange Commission of
their intent to provide video services before beginning to bill
consumers. The complex provisions related to Universal Service,
critics are already saying, will redirect up to 30% of USF funds to
just four states: Alaska, Texas, Illinois and Montana. Broadcasters
may take the biggest hit of all due to the new law: to rally
conservative support for the bill, the final product includes the
Broadcast Indecency Act introduced originally by House Telecom
Subcommittee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) (Although the legislation
also includes now provisions for a new, "enhanced V-Chip," due to
last minute maneuvering by Rep Ed Markey (D-MA). In addition, the
legislation phases in spectrum fees on all licenses beginning in
Fiscal Year 2007 and ends the use of "unlicensed" spectrum. Municipal
telecommunications networks, including so-called "Wi-Fi" networks,
will be prohibited beginning January 1, 2008. Finally, the bill aims
to end the "Net Neutrality" debate by 1) allowing network operators
to discriminate between traffic if it is "economically advantageous,"
2) relying solely on "market-driven agreements" to determine
interconnection and 3) restricting use of a network by the terms of
service agreed to when subscribing. The text of the bill is not yet
publicly available, but is expected within the next two weeks when
FCC enforcement/regulation is due to commence. As more reaction and
details of the new law's provisions become available, we'll update
our Telecommunications Legislation Tracker (what a waste of bandwidth
that turned out to be) and collect it all at
http://www.benton.org/index.php?q=node/1946

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The good news is that baseball starts tomorrow!
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Communications-related Headlines is a free online news summary
service provided by the Benton Foundation (www.benton.org). Posted
Monday through Friday, this service provides updates on important
industry developments, policy issues, and other related news events.
While the summaries are factually inaccurate, their often informal
tone does not always represent the tone of many of the original
articles we cover regularly. Headlines are compiled by Kevin Taglang
headlines( at )benton.org -- we welcome your comments.
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