Senate Commerce Committee members teed up at least 11 amendments to the Satellite Television Access Reauthorization Act (S-2789) for committee consideration during its Wednesday executive session, amid some lawmakers’ displeasure with the existing measure. S-2789 would extend the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act through 2024 (see 1911060043). The deadline for senators to submit amendments expired Friday. Communications lobbyists told us they continue hearing chatter about additional language. Some expect Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., to agree to a compromise manager's amendment Tuesday night that would include text from other senators' proposals. The meeting begins at 10 a.m. in G50 Dirksen.
Jimm Phillips
Jimm Phillips, Associate Editor, covers telecommunications policymaking in Congress for Communications Daily. He joined Warren Communications News in 2012 after stints at the Washington Post and the American Independent News Network. Phillips is a Maryland native who graduated from American University. You can follow him on Twitter: @JLPhillipsDC
ABC, CBS and Fox agreed in recent days to a proposal by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., to ensure satellite subscribers don’t lose access to distant signals if Congress allows the compulsory license language in the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act to expire at year-end. Graham called earlier this month for the broadcasters to provide a one-year license to satellite companies to transmit stations' signals after the distant-signal rules expire and to agree to negotiate carriage agreements for a further one-year beginning in 2021 (see 1911010059). The networks wrote Graham in letters we obtained Friday.
Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman John Kennedy, R-La., told us Thursday he now expects a planned second hearing on his concerns about a potential private auction of spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band to happen Nov. 20. Kennedy grilled FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in October on whether he favors a private auction similar to what the C-Band Alliance proposes (see 1910170038). Pai's expected to propose a private auction plan for a vote at commissioners' Dec. 12 meeting (see 1910100052). The C-Band Alliance countered what it believes are other stakeholders' “misstatements” about its private auction proposal, writing House Communications Subcommittee leaders.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., filed his Satellite Television Access Reauthorization Act (S-2789) Wednesday to renew the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act, as expected (see 1911050028). The committee confirmed Wednesday night it will mark up the bill during a Nov. 13 executive session, also as expected. The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. in 216 Hart.
Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman John Kennedy, R-La., told us Tuesday he plans another hearing “likely next week” on his concerns about a potential private auction of spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band, after recent conversations on the issue with President Donald Trump and FCC auction staff (see 1911010052). Kennedy grilled FCC Chairman Ajit Pai in October on whether he favors a private auction similar to what the C-Band Alliance proposes (see 1910170038). Pai's expected to propose a private auction plan for a vote at the commissioners' Dec. 12 meeting (see 1910100052). 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., was expected to write Pai in support of a public auction, lobbyists and officials said. A Bennet aide confirmed the senator's plans but didn't say when to expect the letter. Some other Hill Republicans and many Democrats publicly backed a public C-band auction, including during two recent hearings (see 1910290037). The additional subcommittee hearing will feature FCC auction staff, as expected, Kennedy said. “They're the ones who know how to do an auction,” he said. “I want the real workers” to testify. “When I suggested to [FCC staffers] that [CBA] contends it will take the FCC seven years to conduct an auction” of C-band spectrum, those staffers “were all ladies and gentlemen ... but I could tell they wanted to pass out black” at that claim, Kennedy said. “They said categorically, unequivocally that is not accurate.” Kennedy divulged little about his C-band conversation with Trump but said “I was very pleased and very encouraged” and Trump “gets it. He is aware of the issue.” CBA "fully" supports "the hard working members of the FCC, who recognized the complexities of clearing this spectrum -- and the timing considerations -- when they issued the NPRM," a spokesperson emailed in response to Kennedy's comments. "One of the greatest challenges in clearing this spectrum for 5G is ensuring" incumbents "continue to receive reliable C-band services." To protect the existing services and "quickly" clear spectrum for 5G requires supplemental satellite capacity placed into space, said the spokesperson. The build and launch of the required eight satellites "will take about 30 months to complete -- and the effort must be funded by auction proceeds before the work can commence." That "is why completing the auction quickly" via a private auction "overseen by the FCC at appropriate junctures" will "accelerate the clearing process," the CBA spokesperson said. The group "commits to 100 MHz of cleared spectrum within 18 months of a final order from the FCC, and 300 MHz of cleared spectrum within 36 months of an auction."
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told us Tuesday he plans to file his Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization bill Wednesday and will “probably” include it for markup at a planned Nov. 13 committee executive session. Meanwhile, House Judiciary Committee ranking member Doug Collins, R-Ga., is pressing the FCC on a trio of Georgia counties' satellite market modification petitions amid his interest in continuing to address orphan counties issues in the STELA debate (see 1903150045). Wicker later told reporters the coming bill will involve a “five-year, clean reauthorization." That would diverge from his earlier work on a renewal for a shorter period than the standard five-year time period as a compromise with STELA skeptics (see 1909250063). “My goal would be next year come back without the pressure of a deadline facing us and actually write a bill that can make everybody proud,” Wicker said. Senate Commerce staff informed stakeholders they anticipate any STELA bill probably won't be able to sail through a markup on a voice vote and is expected to require substantial debate time, lobbyists told us. The law is set to sunset Dec. 31. Collins wrote FCC Chairman Ajit Pai Tuesday to urge the commission to “quickly complete consideration” of the satellite market modification petitions sought by three northeast Georgia counties -- Franklin, Hart and Stephens -- to place them in the Atlanta media market. He noted there has been no appeal of the Media Bureau's June market modification order allowing satellite subscribers in Elbert County, Georgia, to get access to Atlanta TV stations WSB-TV, WAGA-TV, WXIA-TV and WGC-TV (see 1906070038). Broadcasters are appealing Media Bureau market modification orders for the other three counties (see 1810160042 and 1812280054). Subscribers in the affected counties are receiving broadcasts from TV stations in the Asheville, North Carolina, and Greenville, South Carolina, media markets, which means they're “deprived of the range of critical information that in-state broadcasters provide to their communities,” Collins said. “Since weather patterns in this region generally move from west to east, residents depend on public safety messages that come through in-state broadcasters.”
Senate Appropriations Financial Services Subcommittee Chairman John Kennedy, R-La., spoke with President Donald Trump recently about his concerns about a potential private auction of spectrum on the 3.7-4.2 GHz C band, as expected (see 1910290037), a White House spokesperson and Kennedy aide confirmed. Trump and Kennedy “have discussed 5G, and the Trump administration will continue to hear input from stakeholders and” lawmakers amid work “to ensure the United States dominates 5G,” the White House spokesperson emailed Friday. The Kennedy aide described his conversation with Trump as “positive.” The aide also confirmed Kennedy met with FCC auction staff about the C-band process. The FCC didn't comment. Kennedy has been strongly critical about the C-Band Alliance's private auction plan, leading to pushback from group consultant Preston Padden (see 1910310067). Kennedy has been working to retain Senate Appropriations Committee-backed pro-public auction language (see 1909190079) in the chamber's version of the FY 2020 FCC-FTC budget bill (S-2524) despite opposition from Senate Commerce Committee GOP leaders. Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., is backing Kennedy. “An FCC-led public auction best supports free enterprise, competition, and transparency while fully protecting the American Taxpayer,” Biggs tweeted in response to video Kennedy posted of his recent Senate floor speech on the C-band issue.
Letters Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., sent Friday to executives from major broadcasters ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC added further fuel to ongoing chatter about the direction of Congress' debate on Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., is continuing to eye circulating a draft renewal measure in the coming weeks (see 1910300055), but lobbyists are becoming doubtful it will be ready for an early November markup, as originally anticipated. The law will expire Dec. 31 absent recertification.
Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., believes President Donald Trump's administration and the FCC are finally unified on 5G strategy and related spectrum issues. That's despite misgivings ranking member Gary Peters, D-Mich., and Democratic FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel voiced during a Thursday committee hearing. The FCC released a draft proposal Tuesday to bar USF funding for the purchase of telecom equipment from companies “posing a national security threat to the integrity of communications networks or the communications supply chain.” The order is seen as targeted at Chinese equipment manufacturers Huawei and ZTE (see 1910300036).
The Senate voted 84-9 Thursday to pass an amended version of the House-passed minibus FY 2020 budget bill (HR-3055) that includes funding for NTIA, other Commerce Department agencies and the Agriculture Department. An amendment approved Wednesday replaced the text of HR-3055 with similar Senate Appropriations Committee-cleared measures S-2522 and S-2584 (see 1910300054). Both bills allocate $42.4 million to NTIA and $3.45 billion to the Patent and Trademark Office. The Senate bill would allocate $753 million to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, $2 million more than in HR-3055 and $353 million above what the administration sought. The Senate adopted en bloc Thursday a set of 45 amendments, including one from Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., that increases the amount of funding for USDA's distance learning and telemedicine grant program $1 million to $35 million. That's $40 million less than the $75 million the House allocated to DLT in HR-3055, an issue that Reps. Greg Pence, R-Ind., and Anthony Brindisi, D-N.Y., are raising with House and Senate Appropriations leaders (see 1910300056). An amendment from Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chair Mark Warner, D-Va., would direct the attorney general to report to Congress on implementation of the 2018 Ashanti Alert Act to create a nationwide alert system for missing adults on the model of the Amber Alert system for children (see 1901020054). An amendment from Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., would direct the NOAA to report to Congress on its supercomputing capacity and how weather forecasting would be improved by “significant investment” in more capacity. The Senate, meanwhile, failed on a 51-41 vote to invoke cloture on the House-passed FY 2020 minibus budget bill (HR-2740) that aimed to increase CPB annual funding to $495 million. Senate leaders have been eyeing replacing the House-passed legislative language with a Senate Appropriations substitute that would maintain annual funding at $445 million, despite the increase sought by America’s Public Television Stations (see 1909180058). The Senate version also includes $20 million for upgrades to the public broadcasting interconnection system.