More than 90 lawmakers have signed on as co-sponsors of Rep. Tim Bishop’s call center bill HR-3569, Bishop said during a conference call Wednesday. The bill would make U.S. firms that outsource call center jobs overseas ineligible for federal grants and loans. It would also ensure that U.S. consumers are told the location of the call center to which they're speaking and would give the consumer the right to transfer their call to a U.S. customer service agent, if preferred. Outsourcing is a “significant drag” on the U.S. economy, Bishop said, saying he’s working on getting more co-sponsors.
Some questions remain about whether the FCC has authority to require TV stations to publish certain information from their political files online, NAB General Counsel Jane Mago told Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake in a phone call Monday, a filing said (http://xrl.us/bmy6dh). “At the very least, there is no requirement that broadcaster public or political files or sensitive rate information be put online.” The commission “has the authority to decide, as it did in 2007, that portions of the public file should not be put online,” the notice said, and “the information needed for public scrutiny (as opposed to information aimed mainly at candidates) is available on the Federal Elections Commission website, which Congress clearly intended to be the locus for election information.” Members of the Nevada Broadcasters Association also held a recent meeting at the FCC about putting political files online.
The House plans a floor vote next week on the FCC reform bill (HR-3309) by Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., said a spokeswoman for Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va. The House Rules Committee announced Thursday it plans to mark up HR-3309 on Monday at 5 p.m. in Room H-313 of the Capitol. Communications Subcommittee Ranking Member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., has said she plans to again offer an amendment to HR-3309 requiring more broadcaster disclosure about political ads (CD March 12 p5). Eshoo and nearly every other House Commerce Democrat voted against HR-3309 in committee markup. If the bill passes, it could have a tough time in the Senate, where Democrats in control have shown no interest in pursuing process reform specific to the FCC.
Communications workers lobbied senators of the Antitrust Subcommittee Thursday, one day after the subcommittee’s hearing on the Verizon/SpectrumCo deal (CD March 22 p6), said the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 827. IBEW condemned the transaction and asked senators to seek more information on the cross-marketing deals between Verizon Wireless and cable companies. “Consumers will be paying more and more for less and less reliable service if this deal is approved,” IBEW Local 827 President William Huber said.
The FCC Consumer Advisory Committee recommended the agency back funding of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in the commission’s “interaction with the Administration and with the Congress.” Funding will enable CPB “to continue its support for public broadcast stations, including those providing service to rural, tribal, native and disability communities,” the committee said in a statement. A loss or significant reduction of CPB’s federal funds would impact all funded stations, “causing reductions in programming and services to local communities and, in some cases, leading to stations going off the air,” the committee said.
The FCC on Wednesday may have signaled interest in acting on other mobile satellite services (MSS) spectrum. A proposed rulemaking released Wednesday to consider allowing for terrestrial services in the S-band said it plans to consider action for other MSS band at a later date. The agency’s proposal said: “Due to the unique characteristics of each band, we intend to address the Commission’s Ancillary Terrestrial Component (ATC) rules for Big LEO and L-band MSS separately.” The agency’s language on the other MSS bands may be meant to explain why the FCC focused only on the 2 GHz band when a previous notice of inquiry looked at all MSS spectrum, said an industry executive, and may not signal imminent plans for rules changes within the spectrum. Globalstar said it supported the idea of looking at the other bands. “As Globalstar completes the launch and deployment of its second-generation constellation, we look forward to participating in that future proceeding and anticipate receiving similar flexibility to offer terrestrial services within the Big LEO band,” said Barbee Ponder, general counsel at Globalstar. L-band licensee Inmarsat said the large number of current MSS users in its spectrum is why the agency didn’t take it up as part of the S-band NPRM. “I assume the FCC is not addressing the L-band in this proceeding because they are aware that it is currently heavily utilized by MSS users who rely on the band for critical services,” said Inmarsat Vice President-Government Affairs Diane Cornell. LightSquared didn’t comment.
The state of Georgia asked the FCC for a waiver so it can build a statewide public safety broadband network, ahead of a national network, in the 700 MHz band. The state “has identified public safety interoperable broadband services as a priority and is prepared to seek partners to make the investment necessary to deploy a network as quickly as possible in the 700 MHz public safety broadband spectrum,” Georgia said (http://xrl.us/bmy4ys). “The State envisions the development and build-out of the network through a collaborative effort among both the public and private sector, and through a combination of dedicated public safety and/or privately owned networks.” The state noted it is the home to “the busiest airport in the world,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are located in Atlanta, two nuclear power plants and the Garden City Terminal of the Port of Savannah, which is “North America’s largest single-terminal container facility."
The National Emergency Number Association is still working with its members on the challenges public safety answering points face should the FCC mandate text messaging-to-911, CEO Brian Fontes said in a meeting with FCC officials. “We explained that some PSAP equipment such as log recorders may require upgrades in order to handle SMS text, depending on a particular PSAP’s posture with respect to NG911 readiness,” NENA said in a filing (http://xrl.us/bmy435).
The FCC International Bureau on Wednesday dismissed (http://xrl.us/bmy5mt) parts of an SES application to operate a new earth station in Virginia. The dismissal was due to technical inconsistencies and an ongoing freeze on filing applications for new DBS satellites in the 12.2-12.7 GHz band, which prevents the agency from accepting any “earth station application to access a satellite not currently providing DBS service in the United States in the 12.5-12.7 GHz band,” the bureau said.
The House Homeland Security Committee plans to mark up the PrECISE Act (HR-3674) next week, said its author, Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Calif. “We have a markup on the bill on Wednesday, I believe,” Lungren told us Thursday. The committee has not issued a formal announcement but Committee Chairman Peter King, R-N.Y., said: “My intention is to mark up cybersecurity legislation next Wednesday. We are working to finalize the proposal and will move forward as quickly as possible.” The bill, which passed the House Cybersecurity Subcommittee in February, establishes the Department of Homeland Security as the lead agency to coordinate the response to national cyberthreats. The bill also would create a new non-governmental organization called the National Information Sharing Organization to increase information sharing between the public and private sectors, and aims to boost voluntary incentives for private companies to secure U.S. networks.