Congress won’t pass a telecom bill this year, ex-Sen. Larry Pressler (R-S.D.) Said Wed. at an event commemorating the Telecom Act’s 10th anniversary. “Congress holds hearings, hearings, hearings… There’s a lot of tough talk but nothing passes,” said Pressler, one of the ‘96 Act’s framers. The lag occurs because voters have scant interest in telecom policy, so bills focus on business, depriving bills of “electoral” benefit and dotting them with political dangers, he said.
A consensus of opinion among senators failed to emerge Tues. during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on net neutrality that considered a swirl of industry promises, academic arguments and economic analyses of the complex issue. Some committee members said premature legislation could hurt more than help, but worried the U.S. is falling behind globally in broadband deployment. Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) said net neutrality needs to be defined before the committee can move forward with legislation. Sen. Burns (R-Mont.) said the debate should play out in the marketplace.
A consensus of opinion among senators failed to emerge Tues. during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on net neutrality that considered a swirl of industry promises, academic arguments and economic analyses of the complex issue. Some committee members said premature legislation could hurt more than help, but worried the U.S. is falling behind globally in broadband deployment. Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) said net neutrality needs to be defined before the committee can move forward with legislation. Sen. Burns (R-Mont.) said the debate should play out in the marketplace.
NTIA, which Congress assigned to administer the digital- to-analogue box voucher program -- a consumer program unprecedented for the agency -- will spend the first dollars targeted to the programs under the Bush Administration budget for fiscal year 2007, which was released Mon. But whether the NTIA is up to running a $100 million voucher program -- the amount allocated by the bill for administrative costs -- is but one of the concerns facing retailers at the front lines of a DTV converter box giveaway.
The Washington File reports that the U.S. and South Korea will open negotiations on a comprehensive bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) to remove tariff and nontariff barriers and expand trade between the countries. The talks are expected to begin in or around May 2006 after a consultation period. (Washington File Pub 02/03/06, available at http://usinfo.state.gov/usinfo/Archive/2006/Feb/02-508129.html)
Attorney Gen. Alberto Gonzales will have a tough job when he testifies Mon. before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the National Security Agency’s (NSA) electronic surveillance program. Gonzales must defend the Justice Dept.’s actions while “showing that he is an attorney general in an independent way,” ACLU Washington Legislative Dir. Caroline Fredrickson told reporters Thurs.
CE and other industries may well bear a large burden for educating the public about the Feb. 17, 2009, analog TV cutoff, now that the House has narrowly approved a deficit- reduction package and its DTV provisions and sent it to the White House for President Bush’s signature (CD Feb 2 p1). But for the CE industry and others, for which enactment of a hard DTV transition date is a long-sought victory, the burden is one they're ready to shoulder.
CE and other industries may well bear a large burden for educating the public about the Feb. 17, 2009, analog TV cutoff, now that the House has narrowly approved a deficit- reduction package and its DTV provisions and sent it to the White House for President Bush’s signature (CED Feb 2 p1). But for the CE industry and others, for which enactment of a hard DTV transition date is a long-sought victory, the burden is one they're ready to shoulder.
A National Rural Telecom Coop (NRTC) study raising doubts about the feasibility of BPL for rural electric cooperatives (CD Jan 26 p2) isn’t the “end-all, definitive statement” that BPL will never be deployed in rural areas, said Mich. PSC Comr. Laura Chappelle, who heads NARUC’s BPL Task Force. The NRTC said it isn’t making its report public but will brief state regulators.
A National Rural Telecom Coop (NRTC) study raising doubts about the feasibility of BPL for rural electric cooperatives (CD Jan 26 p2) isn’t the “end-all, definitive statement” that BPL will never be deployed in rural areas, said Mich. PSC Comr. Laura Chappelle, who heads NARUC’s BPL Task Force. The NRTC said it isn’t making its report public but will brief state regulators.