Chairmen Upton and Walden Release #CommActUpdate White Paper on Video Policy

This is the sixth in a series of white papers issued by the committee in its process of reviewing the Communications Act for update. This paper focuses on regulation of the market for video content and distribution.

The paper asks for public input on 5 questions by January 23, 2015:

I. Broadcasters face a host of regulations based on their status as a “public trustee.”

• Does the public trustee model still make sense in the current communications marketplace?
• Which specific obligations in law and regulation should be changed to address changes in the marketplace?
• How can the Communications Act foster broadcasting in the 21st century? What changes in law will promote a market in which broadcasting can compete with subscription video services?
• Are the local market rules still necessary to protect localism? What other mechanisms could promote both localism and competition? Alternatively, what changes could be made to the current local market rules to improve consumer outcomes?

II. Cable services are governed largely by the 1992 Cable Act, a law passed when cable represented a near monopoly in subscription video
How have market conditions changed the assumptions that form the foundation of the Cable Act? What changes to the Cable Act should be made in recognition of the market?

III. Cable systems are required to provide access to their distribution platform in a variety of ways, including program access, leased access channels, and PEG channels. Are these provisions warranted in the era of the Internet? III. Satellite television providers are currently regulated under law and regulation specific to their technology, despite the fact that they compete directly with cable. What changes can be made in the Communications Act (and other statutes) to reduce disparate treatment of competing technologies?

IV. The relationship between content and distributors consumes much of the debate on video services.

• What changes to the existing rules that govern these relationships should be considered to reflect the modern market for content?
• How should the Communications Act balance consumer welfare with the rights of content creators? V. Over-the-top video services are not addressed in the current Communications Act. How should the Act treat these services? What are the consequences for competition and innovation if they are subjected to the legacy rules for MVPDs?