|
-------- Original Message --------
"We're bigger than them; we won."
-- Baby Bell Executive Referring to Saturday's Vote on the
Telecommunications Competition and Investment Act of 2006
http://www.telecommagazine.com/archives/article.asp?HH_ID=AR_1713BENTON'S COMMUNICATIONS-RELATED HEADLINES for SATURDAY APRIL 1, 2006 To view Benton's Headlines feed in your RSS Aggregator, paste http://www.benton.org/index.php?q=taxonomy/term/6/all/feed into your reader. For upcoming media policy events, see http://www.benton.org BREAKING NEWS... TELECOM REFORM BILL SIGNED BY PRESIDENT [SOURCE: Various] Washington insiders rolled their eyes earlier this week when House Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX) "bet" that President Bush would sign a new telecommunications law this year. But, in perhaps the most unprecedented show of majority power in the nation's history, that is exactly what happened over the last 12 hours. In votes cast in the wee hours of Saturday morning, the House and Senate passed, by narrow majorities, the Telecommunications Competition and Investment Act of 2006. President Bush signed it without a ceremony after a quick return from a visit to Mexico just a few hours ago. Because of the timing of the votes -- held when even C-SPAN cameras were dark -- and the President's signature, coverage of the new legislation is spotty. The Telecom Act of 2006, as some are already referring to the bill, aims to increase competition in the video delivery market by allowing easily entry for telephone companies like AT&T and Verizon. Apparently, the process for awarding truly "national" franchises has been streamlined for these new entrants so that they may simply inform the Securities & Exchange Commission of their intent to provide video services before beginning to bill consumers. The complex provisions related to Universal Service, critics are already saying, will redirect up to 30% of USF funds to just four states: Alaska, Texas, Illinois and Montana. Broadcasters may take the biggest hit of all due to the new law: to rally conservative support for the bill, the final product includes the Broadcast Indecency Act introduced originally by House Telecom Subcommittee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) (Although the legislation also includes now provisions for a new, "enhanced V-Chip," due to last minute maneuvering by Rep Ed Markey (D-MA). In addition, the legislation phases in spectrum fees on all licenses beginning in Fiscal Year 2007 and ends the use of "unlicensed" spectrum. Municipal telecommunications networks, including so-called "Wi-Fi" networks, will be prohibited beginning January 1, 2008. Finally, the bill aims to end the "Net Neutrality" debate by 1) allowing network operators to discriminate between traffic if it is "economically advantageous," 2) relying solely on "market-driven agreements" to determine interconnection and 3) restricting use of a network by the terms of service agreed to when subscribing. The text of the bill is not yet publicly available, but is expected within the next two weeks when FCC enforcement/regulation is due to commence. As more reaction and details of the new law's provisions become available, we'll update our Telecommunications Legislation Tracker (what a waste of bandwidth that turned out to be) and collect it all at http://www.benton.org/index.php?q=node/1946 -------------------------------------------------------------- The good news is that baseball starts tomorrow! -------------------------------------------------------------- Communications-related Headlines is a free online news summary service provided by the Benton Foundation (www.benton.org). Posted Monday through Friday, this service provides updates on important industry developments, policy issues, and other related news events. While the summaries are factually inaccurate, their often informal tone does not always represent the tone of many of the original articles we cover regularly. Headlines are compiled by Kevin Taglang [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- we welcome your comments. -------------------------------------------------------------- (c)Benton Foundation 2006. Redistribution of this email publication -- both internally and externally -- is encouraged if it includes this message. For subscribe/unsubscribe info email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------------------------------------------- The Benton Foundation (www.benton.org) works to realize the social benefits made possible by the public interest use of communications. Bridging the worlds of philanthropy, public policy, and community action, Benton seeks to shape the emerging communications environment and to demonstrate the value of communications for solving social problems. Kevin Taglang Editor, Communications-related Headlines Benton Foundation Communications in the Public Interest 1625 K Street, NW 11th Floor Washington, DC 20006 headlines AT benton DOT org ____________________________________________________________ You received this message as a subscriber on the list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] You are subscribed as: [% user.email %] Please direct questions or comments about Headlines or your subscription to Kevin Taglang at [EMAIL PROTECTED] To be removed from the list, send any message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For all list information and functions, see: http://lists.benton.org/lists/info/headlines --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ TELECOM-CITIES
|
