Broadband plan stirs praise, then criticism at the FCC
The FCC's honeymoon has ended with the release of its national broadband plan.
During a meeting Tuesday that featured considerable praise from regulators for the sweeping technology blueprint and the 50-person team that crafted it, there were signs that deep fissures are emerging among commissioners.
That reality was hammered home when Democratic Commissioner Mignon Clyburn -- normally a staunch ally of Democratic FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski -- sharply criticized one of the plan's core proposals: offering incentives to television broadcasters to relinquish large chunks of airwaves to be reassigned to mobile wireless carriers.
"The plan does not study the impact that a spectrum sell-off would have on women and minority-owned broadcast television stations," Clyburn said, explaining that these are the types of owners most amenable to buyouts. "A plan that would further decimate the prospects for women and minority owners is untenable."
Genachowski, who has been battling the National Association of Broadcasters for months over the idea, continued to defend it during a news conference after the meeting, insisting that the needs of both over-the-air viewers and mobile providers would be met.
The agency's decision to issue a two-page mission statement applauding the larger themes of the plan, the nation's first comprehensive blueprint for dramatically expanding broadband deployment and usage, reinforced the perception that consensus will not be easy to reach.
The 360-page document contains roughly 200 policy proposals for Congress, the FCC and other agencies to implement over the next decade. It will be the focus of oversight hearings next week before the Senate and House Commerce committees.
Democratic FCC member Michael Copps raised the temperature in the packed room with a veiled threat to telecommunications and cable companies, which the FCC is heavily relying on to make tens of billions of dollars in infrastructure investments consistent with the plan's goals.
"Lack of competition could conceivably require us to take actions going beyond what is generally discussed here," he said. "We may have to invoke other available authorities already invested in the commission -- or, should we lack some authority that we need, we may have to request it."
Those comments appeared to be a reference to tentative "network neutrality" rules approved in October that would toughen agency guidelines designed to preserve the Internet's openness and to the possible reclassification of broadband from a lightly to heavily regulated service.
Both moves are strongly opposed by companies that provide broadband and by a growing number of GOP lawmakers.
The agency's two Republicans balanced their praise with ample criticism about key recommendations -- and strong warnings that the document could pave the way for more regulation.
"The plan refers to the elephant in the room, a proceeding that has shadowed the plan since last fall: the open Internet or 'net neutrality' proceeding," said Robert McDowell, the commission's senior GOP member, expressing similar concerns about the blueprint paving the way for reclassifying broadband.
He also took aim at a proposal for creating standardized cable set-top boxes that would enable Internet surfing on TV screens. "Technological mandates by the government almost never result in robust innovation. In fact, history shows that such mandates are more often than not counterproductive," he warned.
Asked after the meeting how he would have voted, McDowell reflected the conflicted views shared by some of his colleagues when he responded that he would have issued a "partial concurrence" and a "partial dissent."