House GOP, Democratic Members Spin Net Neutrality, Reauth at Hearing; One Planned on Net Neutrality

Walden announced a planned Sept. 7 hearing with CEOs of top tech and telecom firms aimed at reaching a consensus on net neutrality. “It's time for Congress to legislate the rules of the internet and stop the ping-pong game of regulations and litigation” that has characterized the net neutrality debate, Walden said. “Now is the time and Congress is the place to create a lasting resolution,” House Commerce said in a memo.

“With your help, I know we can craft a fair, predictable and sustainable solution that not only benefits Edge Providers and Internet Service Providers, but also the billions of consumers worldwide that deserve a free and open internet,” Walden said in letters to the CEOs. Blackburn urged Pallone and House Communications Democrats to “move past the partisan rhetoric” and return to negotiations for a net neutrality bill. House Communications Vice Chairman Leonard Lance, R-N.J., urged the subcommittee to “work together in a bipartisan capacity” on a compromise bill.

Invited CEOs include Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Netflix's Reed Hastings, Verizon's Lowell McAdam, Google parent Alphabet's Larry Page, Charter Communications' Thomas Rutledge, AT&T's Randall Stephenson, Comcast Cable's David Watson and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg. Pallone and House Communications ranking member Mike Doyle, D-Pa., wrote Walden and Blackburn later Tuesday urging them to invite representatives for consumers, small businesses and public interest groups. AT&T and Facebook are reviewing their invitations, spokesmen said. Other companies didn't comment.

Pallone and House Communications Democrats didn't indicate any appetite for a legislative compromise on net neutrality. Many leading congressional Democrats have indicated they don't see a path to acceptable net neutrality legislation in the near future, though some of the party's lawmakers have signaled ongoing interest (see 1707130063 and 1707210038). Instead, they focused on criticizing FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Mike O'Rielly for favoring large ISPs over smaller companies and consumers in considering the NPRM.

Pallone encouraged O'Rielly and Pai to “really listen” to the estimated 12.3 million comments in docket 17-108 “and reconsider their dangerous plan” to roll back the rules. Doyle said the FCC is “on the wrong path” in considering a net neutrality rollback, especially because Pai and O'Rielly “only seem to talk” about the 2015 rules in relation to major ISPs' investment in broadband deployments.

Pai pledged to “review the record fully and fairly” on the net neutrality NPRM but said it would take economic evidence that shows broadband investment has increased dramatically post-Title II reclassification to convince him that the existing rules should remain. O'Rielly will examine the comment record “to see if anything changes my mind,” including economic analysis and “real evidence of harm” that could occur post-rollback. Clyburn believes there's already market certainty for ISPs under the existing net neutrality rules, and the FCC followed Congress' mandate.

Pai and O'Rielly endorsed most elements of Blackburn's draft reauthorization draft bill. Many of the provisions “would improve the agency’s operations,” including via language that would codify a pilot program to make draft agenda items public three weeks before commissioners' meetings (see 1702020051), Pai said. O'Rielly noted his “strong support” for the draft language but said he believes it could go further in overhauling processes. Walden said a discussion on commission reauthorization is “long overdue” and praised Pai's pilot program as evidence of his “commitment to make the FCC's operations more transparent.” Pallone criticized Blackburn's draft for containing “absolutely no Democratic input.” The draft “is flawed” and is “not serious legislation” in part because it would lower the FCC's budget cap to $322 million, Pallone said.

Pai insisted no one in President Donald Trump's administration contacted the FCC about pending media transactions, including Sinclair's purchase of Tribune. Pallone pressed Pai about whether the White House contacted the FCC about Sinclair/Tribune, noting reports saying the agency's move to reinstate the UHF discount and other recent actions aided Sinclair. The discount reinstatement and other FCC actions are aimed at the whole market rather than any specific company, Pai said. Doyle believes the discount reinstatement was a move to aid the “unprecedented” Sinclair/Tribune. Rep. Tony Cárdenas, D-Calif., said he has concerns about Sinclair/Tribune and will ask follow-up questions.

The FCC will aggressively pursue freeing up white spaces for rural broadband if there's sufficient evidence and legal authority to do so, Pai said. Microsoft recently proposed working with NAB on white spaces, which is the subject of an ongoing proceeding (see 1707110015). O'Rielly said he supports white spaces but not at the ultimate expense of broadcast channels. Clyburn said she also supports white spaces. The FCC is working to review license transfer applications for smaller spectrum winners in the forward auction amid concerns from Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y.