Markey to Participate in FCC Broadband-Network Hearing
House Telecommunications & Internet Subcommittee Chairman Added to Agenda for Federal Communications Commission's Feb. 25 En Banc Hearing
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/22/2008 5:46:00 AM MT
House Telecommunications & Internet Subcommittee chairman Ed Markey (D-Mass.) was added to the agenda of the Federal Communications Commission's Feb. 25 en banc hearing on broadband-network practices.
According to his office, Markey was scheduled to speak at the hearing.
The commission moved its Feb. 26 monthly meeting to Feb. 25 and from Washington, D.C., to Harvard Law School for two panel sessions and a demonstration of file-sharing technology. No other business is planned for the meeting, which means that the FCC will likely separately vote out the Liberty Media-DirecTV merger -- with some conditions.
The agency is currently investigating allegations of network-traffic blocking or impeding and generally asking for input on whether and/or how it needs to toughen its broadband-network "open-access" guidelines.
Markey, a fan of so-called network neutrality, introduced a bill that would enshrine those open-access guidelines in the law, although it is unclear whether it would require the FCC to convert those guidelines into rules.
