[opendtv] News: Telcom Update Teed Up In House

  • From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2005 09:21:40 -0400

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6257116.html?display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP
 


Telcom Update Teed Up In House

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/14/2005 8:29:00 PM

A telcom bill rewrite is on the way, or at least the first bite at the apple.

According to a Hill source, House Commerce Committee staffers and 
members have gotten the word that a preliminary draft of legislation 
updating and re-crafting the 1996 Telecommunication Act will be 
handed out Thursday.

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chairman of the Telecommunications 
Subcommittee, has called an 11 p.m. meeting to distribute the 70-page 
discussion draft, which is essentially a conversation-starter that 
will be subject to changes following negotiations and meetings among 
members.

The bill will try to come up with regs and rules of the road for 
broadband video, voice, and Internet, essentially filling in areas 
where technology has outstripped the 1996 rewrite of the 1934 Act.

Meanwhile, Oct. 26 is the new deadline for a DTV transition bill from 
both House and Commerce.

Those bills had been expected to beat a telcom rewrite out of the 
gate. The deadline--though informal--for those bills had been Sept. 
16, but Katrina played havoc with Hill hearings and due dates. The 
budget committees have set that deadline for committees to report on 
legislation that could affect the budget next year and five years 
down the raod. The return of analog spectrum--likely in 
2009--triggers auctions that could mean billions to the treasury.

Also, look for the Commerce Committee to call a hearing in the next 
couple of weeks on communications failures during Katrina. DTV 
issues, specifically the need for a hard date for return of analog 
spectrum, will come up in that hearing, said a committee source, 
though whether the draft of a DTV transition bill will surface as 
well is unclear.
 
 
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