Second House FCC Oversight Hearing Scheduled

The House Energy & Commerce Committee isn't done with the FCC just yet.

Following up on its April 30 FCC oversight hearing, featuring FCC chairman Tom Wheeler and commissioner Michael O'Reilly, the House Communications Subcommittee has scheduled a second hearing — "FCC Reauthorization: Improving Commission Transparency — Part II" — for May 15.

No word on who will be asked to testify this time around.

At that April 30 hearing, the committee considered a trio of FCC process reform bills backed by Republicans, but Democrats also had some good ideas. Both will be the subject of the follow-on hearing.

"[T]he Subcommittee will examine additional bills to improve transparency and process at the FCC," the committee said. "Members will also review a number of additional draft proposals offered by Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) and the Democratic members of the subcommittee."

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.