FCC’s Genachowski Plans to Seek Commission Vote on Broadband Plan
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said on Thursday he will seek a vote by the commissioners on the national broadband plan before it’s sent to Congress. His comment came in an interview in his corner office, still little decorated. It had been unclear whether the other commissioners would be asked to sign off on the plan or whether it would in effect be released as a chairman’s report.
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“The first thing I'm pleased about is that the broadband team has been able to pull off something that was unprecedented,” Genachowski said of the workshops the commission has conducted. “There will be about two dozen, open staff-level workshops this month. … Being able to pull that off, so that the commission is engaging with the public in this fact-gathering, data-gathering process, is very important.”
Asked about the huge volume of information flowing to the commission, Genachowski conceded that it will be a major challenge “to tame the data as it comes in, to build analytical frameworks around it.” He added, “I wouldn’t say yet that we've gotten all the data that we want or all the data that we need or all the ideas that we want or need, but the response to the workshops so far has been good. People are engaging from lots of different perspectives.”
Under Genachowski, the Media Bureau is helping TV stations improve digital service and working on publicizing more information about children’s TV shows on the FCC’s Web site, a report on content filtering and a coming inquiry on kids and digital media, he said. Genachowski said the Media Bureau is working with broadcasters to see how the FCC can make information about children’s informational and educational programming available online to parents “in a useful way.” The Children’s Television Act calls for the programming to be aired and information about it made available to parents, Genachowski said. “The good news is that the information is actually supplied by broadcasters and it’s on the FCC Web site. The bad news is it’s very hard to find on the FCC Web site. It requires something close to an engineering degree and an expertise in brain teasers to figure out where it is. And even when you get there, it’s not presented in the way that’s really useful to parents.”
The Media Bureau is working on a “status report,” due to Congress at month’s end under the Child Safe Viewing Act, on how parental-control technologies can be improved, Genachowski said. The report on consumer electronics, cable, satellite and wireless devices was the subject of a notice of inquiry this year. Genachowski confirmed plans for another NOI on kids media “in the digital age.” That notice will “build on the Child Safe Viewing Act and look across the board,” said Genachowski, who discussed the document at a Senate Commerce Hearing.
With children “on computers at least as much as they are on TV” and using “mobile phones, many of which are smart,” parents grapple with overseeing what media their kids are exposed to, Genachowski said. “Parents are concerned, confused and in general I think feel disempowered with exercising parental responsibilities with respect to kids.” The commission will study whether it can take additional “informational” or other actions, he said.
Some Media Bureau staffers spend their days trying to solve the “challenges” of DTV stations in “maximizing their audience” (CED Aug 19 p7), Genachowski said. Raising power levels solves some DTV problems, but “of course every time you turn up the dial a little bit it costs broadcasters a little bit more, too,” he added. “Hopefully broadcasters will seize the opportunities provided by digital transmission.” That will help the industry after an “expensive” and “difficult” DTV conversion, Genachowski said. With 10-15 million Americans dependent on terrestrial TV, “the health of the broadcast industry remains very important,” he said. “And the commission’s doors are open to ideas on ways to promote a healthy broadcasting industry in ways that promote the public interest.”
Genachowski also said he wants to revamp the way the FCC communicates with the public. “There’s a lot of work to do to fully revamp the new media operations of the commission,” he said. The goal is to reach all possible constituents, including ordinary Americans, academics and businesses. Genachowski said he’s pleased that the commission, in developing the broadband plan, has used new media, including a new blog and Twitter feed on Broadband.gov and Web conferencing software that lets people across the country watch workshops and ask questions at them. “These are all still early, [and] we still think of them as being in beta,” he said. - Howard Buskirk, Adam Bender, Jonathan Make