Stevens Indicates Senate Prospects Unclear For 'Net Neutrality' Clause By David Hatch National Journal
Tuesday, March 14 http://www.njtelecomupdate.com/lenya/telco/live/tb-PKMQ1142371107278.html Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, said that he supports the policy of "network neutrality" on the Internet -- but does not know if it will be part of telecommunications legislation scheduled to be debated by his panel within the next month. Stevens said panel members will decide whether to include so-called net neutrality -- a policy of preventing telecommunications and cable giants from acting as gatekeepers on their high-speed Internet networks. "It's going to take votes in the committee to get things in the bill," Stevens told reporters. "We have an enormous number of items that people want to put in." Asked whether he would insist on net neutrality language, he responded: "I don't have any priorities. I want a bill." Stevens, who spoke following a hearing that his panel held on wireless issues, made his remarks as the House Energy and Commerce Committee continues to draft its own telecom measure. The House version is expected to contain provisions barring AT&T, Verizon Communications, Time Warner and other telecommunications and cable TV giants from controlling the content transmitted over their broadband pipes. "We don't have that many times to get out on the floor," Stevens said, adding that the more support he can garner for a telecom bill, "the more chance we're going to get that a bill will pass with a very short timeframe." Stevens reiterated his target for introduction of a bill: in conjunction with Congress' Easter recess next month. He previously has said the legislation would tackle universal service, a program aimed at guaranteeing affordable communications services to rural and low-income Americans, and video franchising, which deals with the Bell companies' entrance into the pay- video market. But he declined Tuesday to discuss the bill's focus. Meanwhile, Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., used the hearing to voice concerns about industry consolidation and the impact of the proposed merger of AT&T and BellSouth. "We also need to think about this issue of concentration and what it is going to mean for the landscape if unchecked five and 10 years from now," Dorgan said. Stevens declined to discuss the deal. "I haven't even looked at that," he said. "The staff has a paper on that for me to look at." Commerce ranking member Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, was absent Tuesday due to the death of his wife a day earlier from complications related to cancer. During a brief appearance at the hearing, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. -- his party's 2004 presidential nominee and a potential contender for the 2008 nomination -- took a swipe at the broadband policy of President Bush. "Despite the president's promise of ubiquitous broadband by 2007, we are clearly now -- well into 2006 -- short of that goal," Kerry said. "It seems, incredibly, that the FCC is sitting on the rulemaking that would help correct this problem." Kerry plugged wireless broadband legislation that he has co-authored with Sen. George Allen, R-Va. -- another likely 2008 presidential contender -- to harness unused broadcast television frequencies. Stevens has introduced a similar measure. Meanwhile, the Government Accountability Office Tuesday issued a report criticizing U.S. regulatory policies governing spectrum. The report warns that the existing approach to spectrum management is flawed because neither the FCC nor the Commerce Department has complete authority. It urges development of a national plan. ================================ George Antunes, Political Science Dept University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204 Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927 antunes at uh dot edu Reply with a "Thank you" if you liked this post. _____________________________ MEDIANEWS mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
