Sen. Heller Calls On Senate to Take Up FCC Reform

Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) called on Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W. Va.) to hold hearings on his version FCC reform legislation, which closely mirrors House reform legislation that passed in the Energy & Commerce Committee Tuesday.

"I call on Chairman Rockefeller to take these issues up in the Commerce Committee," he said in a statement. "At a minimum, we should bring the FCC commissioners before the Committee and hold an oversight hearing on how the FCC conducts itself."

"We have no plans to hold a hearing on this bill," said a Rockefeller spokesperson.

House Energy & Commerce Committee Democrats opposed to the bill suggested before and after the vote to approve the reforms that the Senate would not approve them and they would not become law, suggesting Tuesday's markup was a wasted opportunity for real reform, and thus a waste of time.

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.