Broadcasting&Cable

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who chairs the House Communications Subcommittee, spoke at the American Cable Association Summit. She put in a plug for her network neutrality legislation, the Open Internet Preservation Act, and also suggested that proponents of network neutrality could be on the same page as she is and just not know it. Her bill prevents blocking and throttling, which she said "everybody agrees with." It does not prevent paid prioritization, which is where it runs into major pushback from Democrats.

The American Cable Association has officially joined the court challenge of the Federal Communications Commission's network neutrality rule rollback, filing a motion to intervene in the case with the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  ACA is intervening on the side of the FCC, to "help defend the Federal Communications Commission's ruling that restored light-touch regulation to providers of high-quality broadband facilities and infrastructure to millions of users in rural America." An intervenor is a party with a demonstrable interest in the outcome, something ACA certainly has, re

In a letter to the Federal Communications Commission Next Century Cities is pushing back on the FCC's efforts to exempt some wireless deployments from local historic or environmental reviews, saying they are being scapegoated unfairly as impediments to broadband deployment. Three dozen mayors and other elected officials signed the letter defending local decisionmaking in 5G small-cell deployments.

In a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) wants the FCC to rethink its approval of deals putting high-band spectrum in the hands of AT&T and Verizon. The FCC's Wireless Bureau approved the transfer of millimeter-band (high-band) spectrum licenses from Straight Path to Verizon and FiberTower to AT&T in settlements with those companies for not building out the spectrum as they agreed to do when they acquired it.

The Senate Commerce Committee kicked off a series of infrastructure hearings March 13 with one focused on broadband, including a big focus on collecting accurate date about where broadband is, and more importantly, isn't. Sen Roger Wicker (R-MS) presided over the hearing, "Rebuilding Infrastructure in America: Investing in Next Generation Broadband", saying he was greatly encouraged by the President Donald Trump's support for programs to increase broadband infrastructure in rural areas.