Energy & Commerce Committee: FCC Commissioners Will All Testify

According to the House Energy & Commerce Committee, all five FCC commissioners have agreed to testify at its Communications Subcommittee hearing Feb. 16 on the FCC's new network neutrality rules.

"The five commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will testify about the controversial network neutrality rules that put the commission in charge of how networks are managed, how technology partnerships are formed, and how the private sector invests in communications to provide new services and options to consumers," the committee majority said in an e-mail, telegraphing their take on the FCC's new network neutrality regs, which were adopted Dec. 21 by the commission's Democratic majority and have since been pilloried by top Republicans including the chairs of Energy & Commerce and the Communications Subcommittee.

The hearing will be held at 9:30 a.m., a half-hour earlier than the originally scheduled 10 a.m. start time that is traditional for morning hearings. A committee staffer said it was because there was a scheduled floor vote and they wanted to get more of the hearing ion before legislators had to leave.

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.