HouseSubcommittee To Call Full FCC To Testify

The House
Communications & Internet Subcommittee put out some details on its Feb. 16hearing on the FCC's network neutrality rules,
including that it expects a full complement of commissioners to show up.

"The five
commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission will be called to
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 said in a statement
Thursday officially announcing the hearing.

But the FCC
should not feel singled out. That is just one of four oversight hearings it
will hold next week on "recent federal regulations and how they affect job
creation, health care access, and innovation."

Communications
& Internet Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden has signaled he agrees with
other top Republicans that the FCC overstepped its bounds in adopting the
expanded and codified net neutrality regs Dec. 21, and will work with others to
try to reverse that decision legislatively.

House Energy
& Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) has said he plans to hold numerous
FCC oversight hearings at which the commissioners will be expected to show up
and weigh in.

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.