Brian Santo, CEDmagazine, 05/07/2015
Chicago - Facing a hostile audience, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler made it clear he is not backing down. Blocking the Comcast takeover of Time Warner Cable was the right thing to do, and proposing to use Title II to assert authority over broadband was also right and necessary, he explained.
A former president of the NCTA, Wheeler opened his keynote speech here Wednesday with jocular familiarity and praise for the efforts of his audience, who responded with a stony silence that lasted all the way through a set of proposals for future FCC actions, some of which would have elicited applause of not outright cheering under other circumstances.
He said the Commission wants to evaluate the retransmission consent situation, which many cable operators feel is broken.
-or-
I'm not sure that the FCC can do much about retrans-consent rules if congress doesn't give it authority to do so. Two bills were introduced in the 113th Congress to address the issue but neither attracted much support.
- Rep. Anna G. Eshoo's "Video CHOICE" Act
- Rockefeller and Thune's "Local Choice" Act
Neal McLain