[opendtv] News: Martin Defends Open Access Spectrum Plan
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2007 06:58:36 -0400
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6462615.html?display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP&nid=2228
Martin Defends Open Access Spectrum Plan
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/24/2007 1:55:00 PM
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin defended his plan Tuesday to require 22 mHz
of analog TV spectrum being auctioned for advanced wireless services
be open to a range of devices and software applications.
At an oversight hearing in the House Telecommunications & Internet
Subcommittee, Martin said he was not proposing the open access
conditions to help out Google, which asked for the open access
condition, promising to bid the minimum $4.6 billion the FCC has set
as a floor price for the spectrum.
He said Google also wanted the FCC to require the spectrum to be open
to reselling at wholesale prices, which Martin does not support.
Martin said his proposal was to benefit consumers instead of just
one company.
Martin is allied with the two commission Democrats--Michael Copps and
Jonathan Adelstein-- in support of the access provisions. Republican
Robert McDowell said he was leaning against it and Republican Deborah
Taylor Tate said she had not made up her mind.
Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey (D-Mass.) strongly supports applying
the Carterfone-like access requirements for the new spectrum (that
was the decision that forced phone companies to allow outside phones
to be plugged into network), which is intended to help create a
competing national broadband wireless network.
Markey twice pushed McDowell and Tate to support the access
requirements without success, though Martin appears to have his
bipartisan majority.
The former subcommittee chairman, Fred Upton (R-Mich.), was one of
the access provision's strongest opponents, saying that the proposal
sounded like a gamble with the DTV transition, billions of dollars
for the treasury and public safety at stake.
That's because the auction proceeds are going towards, among other
things, $1 billion dollars in aid to first responders and $1.5
billion to pay for digital-to-analog converter boxes. Critics of
access requirements say that could discourage competing bidders and
lower the auction revenue. It could also drive larger companies to
the smaller blocks of spectrum being set aside for smaller bidders,
including minorities and women.
Martin said that the open access conditions and breaking some of the
spectrum up into smaller blocks would likely reduce the take from the
auction, but that the FCC had to look beyond that balance sheet alone
to the consumer interest in having a network open to a variety of
handsets and software applications.
Also criticizing the access condition was former Energy & Commerce
Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-Tex.), who said he was "very
disappointed" in the Martin plan. But not all Republicans were
unhappy: Charles Pickering (R-Miss.), applauded the plan, saying the
conditions would foster competition and benefit consumers.
The oversight hearing touched on the DTV transition--Martin said the
FCC is doing the best it can to educated the public with the money it
has been given. It also touched on the Tribune sale. Martin said he
hoped the FCC could rule on the deal and Tribune's waiver requests by
the end of the year.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:
- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org
- By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word
unsubscribe in the subject line.
Other related posts:
