Copps Worried About Public Safety Reaction to FCC D Block Plan

"It does concern me,” Copps said, when asked about the mostly negative reaction of public safety groups to the proposed auction of the 700 MHz D-block for commercial use. But the plan proposed by the Public Safety Bureau “is the best plan that we have come up with so far,” he said. “It’s based on a far more substantial record and far better expert analysis than any other plan that I've seen. I'm at this point for going forward with that. … We have to proceed here fairly expeditiously."

Copps conceded that getting Congress to agree to allocate $12 billion-$16 billion for the network from the U.S. Treasury will be tough. “Whether that plan succeeds or not depends on action of the Congress,” he said. “I think we need to try to get some feel from Congress whether that kind of funding that’s envisioned is indeed available and I think it is.” Copps cited comments by his old boss, former Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C. “Sen. Hollings always used to say public safety is the first obligation of the public servant,” he said. “I think that’s a sentiment that’s well understood on Capitol Hill.”

Copps said many signs are positive. “I feel more optimistic now than I did a year ago,” he said. “A number of members of Congress over the last several months … are indicating that there might be some funding so that has inspired a lot of hope and confidence in me,” he said. “We need to really push and see if that translates into the money, into action. We need to get this done.” Copps noted that the current Congress managed to tackle health care reform and is poised to address financial regulation. “Those are pretty good sized issues."

Copps said he’s looking forward to FCC action shoring up its authority over broadband. With legal challenges likely for a proposed reclassification order, Copps conceded the commission is in a period of continuing uncertainty. A vote is likely on the reclassification order at the commission’s June 17 meeting (CD May 19 p7). “Uncertainty was created by the decisions of the previous regimes around here in 2002 and 2005,” he said. “I want to get us back on the road to stability and some sense of certainty as quickly as possible. The best track to do that and the strongest foundation that we can proceed on is to do the Title II classification, make clear where we're going. … I think that puts us in the strongest position with the courts."

Copps is hopeful the FCC will act quickly on comprehensive USF and intercarrier compensation reform, he told us. “I think it’s really serious this time,” he said. “It might not be quite as fast as some would like but I think if we're going to pursue what we say we're going to do then that will be the most expeditious path forward.” Copps said a consensus is within reach.

Asked if the FCC squandered an opportunity in late 2008, when four of the commissioners were essentially in agreement on overhaul, Copps said the agency could have made “inroads” at that time. “It was late in the administration to do that and we were about to get in a crisis mode with the DTV transition and Congress was telling us to focus there. … But basically we had four people ready to go,” he said. “I'm not saying that it was comprehensive, but it was considerably more comprehensive than anything we'd done before that."

"Supplementing, not supplanting” FCC staff work with external help makes sense in some instances, Copps said. “I am not prepared to say that should be our going-forward model with every difficult issue we face because we have so much expertise here,” he said: Work on the broadband plan was “a happy marriage of the two” -- outsiders and career staffers. “I have the highest esteem for team FCC and to me they're always the first backstop,” he continued. “I think our team here is considerably better in spirit and motivation than it was a few years ago, but you've got to work, you've got to keep at it, to keep morale high.” Genachowski is “being attentive to morale here,” Copps said.

Before deciding whether to allow further broadcast consolidation, “let’s see what they do with their digital dividend, with the multicast spectrum they have,” Copps said about the quadrennial review and industry’s desire for deregulation. “Some folks have made the point, and I think it’s a good point, of why all the push to change those rules and allow for more ownership so they can broadcast more signals when they already have the capacity,” he said. “It may be nice in every market to see someone have a radar scope stuck out a window, but I don’t think everyone needs to do that and I don’t think that fulfills the public interest obligations that the broadcaster has.” Public and educational TV “by and large” has “done an outstanding job” with what he called the digital dividend by multicasting in DTV three or four different streams of programming, and some commercial broadcasters do, Copps said, “but a lot are not."

FCC assurance that multicast channels would be carried on pay-TV providers “would incentivize our broadcasters to invest in lots of creative ventures including public interest programming,” an NAB spokesman said. “We're already doing that to some degree, but to have an assurance that cable operators would actually carry the programming would provide a big boost.” The spokesman expects more public interest programming, including channels like C-SPAN, from broadcasters, he said. “It’s important to remember we're cycling out of the absolute worst advertising depression in local television in its history, so with all due respect, public TV had government funding it; -- we were reliant solely on an advertising market that was at an historic trough."

Copps would like to see broadcasters show they're using their channels in the public interest in the coming months, before final action on spectrum reallocation occurs, he told us. “When we really get to know how much spectrum we need and the conversation gets more intense with broadcasters … I'd like to see them be in a position to say, ‘We're really making wonderful public interest use of this spectrum,'” he continued. “To me, that would be a big plus on their side of the argument.” But “I'm not saying we don’t need more spectrum and I'm not discouraging broadcasters at all from participating in this discussion if that’s what they wish to do,” he said. “I'd encourage them to participate.”

Copps looks forward to the remainder of his time at the FCC, however long that may be, he said. “I'm thoroughly immersed,” he said. “All of the issues that we're dealing with are the issues I've been urging us to tee up and to follow since I got here in 2001.” His term ends July 1, but he can serve much longer if he’s not replaced.