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Tracking Legislation
Key Issues Could Put Consumers In Control of Their Communications Future
Congress is poised to make a number of critical yet irreversible decisions this year and next that will shape our communications future for decades to come. How Congress addresses these pressing issues, and the priority it puts on ensuring that communications choices and consumer voices will expand, could well be some of the most important decisions in a generation. Public interest advocates and the constituencies they represent need to follow and lend their voices to these important debates.These decisions, perhaps some of the most important communications policy decisions in a decade, will have a very direct impact on our economy, our livelihood, our ability to innovate, and our time honored values of localism, diversity, and consumer choice.
Congress has an important opportunity to unleash unprecedented public interest benefits by answering a number of key policy questions that will determine if, when, and how the public will take advantage of the full promise and potential of our communications landscape.
Network Neutrality
Network Neutrality would allow all lawful Web sites, devices, applications and services to have unfettered access to open Internet networks. The aim is to ensure that no self-interested gatekeepers can limit the online economic marketplace or marketplace of ideas.
Recent Legislation:
- S. 215 The Internet Freedom Preservation Act
- H.R. 5353 The Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2008
- View all Legislation
Universal Service Modernization
"to make available, so far as possible, to all the people of the United States without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex a rapid, efficient, Nation-wide, and world-wide wire and radio communication service with adequate facilities at reasonable charges..."
-- The Purpose of United States Communications Law as amended by the Telecommunications Act of 1996
Americans have long agreed that certain communications tools are so fundamental that their provision should not be left to the vagaries of the marketplace alone. Access to information and communications tools increasingly shapes our ability to manage our complex lives, participate in civic affairs, acquire learning skills needed for economic success, and enjoy social and cultural life.
Universal service is the concept that every individual in the U.S. should have basic telephone service available at an affordable price. It is smart economic policy that protects ratepayers from paying for stranded investments in telephone networks, adds to the value of those networks, and improves the overall productivity, health, and education of society. Universal service policies maximize the size of telephone networks, making citizens more available to education, health and safety services; to businesses; to government; and to eachother by reducing the financial burden of telephone subscribership.
Congress may embark on a path to modernize universal service, examining the contribution and distribution mechanisms for the web of federal and state subsidies aimed at making telephone service affordable throughout the country. The Benton Foundation is closely watching this debate and has summaries of the major Universal Service modernization bills being considered below.
Recent Legislation:
- HR 3919 The Broadband Census of America Act of 2007
- S. 1492 Broadband Data Improvement Act
- S. 1190 Connect the Nation Act
- S.R. 191 Resolution on Next-generation Broadband Networks
- View all Legislation
Telecommunications Policy Reform
In the 109th Congress, many key Republican lawmakers promised broad telecommunication reform legislation. These efforts failed and it remains uncertain whether the new Congress will re-try broad reform or try to take up issues in a piecemeal fashion. The main aim of bills considered in the last Congress was to create a nationwide approval process for pay-TV services. The bills also addressed the controversial issue of Net Neutrality and the Federal Communications Commission's authority to enforce its broadband policy statement and principles.
Recent Legislation:
- S. 1853 Community Broadband Act of 2007
- S. 337 White Spaces Act of 2007
- S. 234 Wireless Innovation Act of 2007
- View all Legislation
Digital Television Transition
The nations 1,600 television stations are converting from traditional analog technology to a digital television format. Digital television (DTV) is a new, more efficient technology for transmitting and receiving broadcast television signals. Digital signals are superior to analog (traditional TV) signals because of their greater accuracy, versatility, efficiency, and interoperability with other electronic media. Because digital signals can carry more information, they can mean more channels, clearer pictures, better sounds, and advanced new functionality.
All of us own the airwaves that broadcasters use to provide both analog and digital TV signals. Broadcasters have been given this special privilege - a license - for free, and in return are required by law to serve the public’s needs. Under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the amount of spectrum given to television station owners was doubled. The policy rationale for this was to enable them to convert their signals from an analog to a digital format. When at least 85% of households in a broadcasting market can receive digital signals, the spectrum currently used for analog channels is to be returned to the government for public safety uses, with some spectrum to be auctioned off to the highest bidder and other spectrum used for unlicensed purposes. Digital television makes broadcasting more competitive and valuable in the market, and should enable broadcasters to better serve basic public needs.
DTV can offer more than better pictures, more channels, and niche services.
Consumers deserve to know how broadcasters will serve their day-to-day television needs – healthy programming for children, healthy programming for our democracy, healthy programming for our communities, and as much information about the TV that comes into our living rooms as the food that comes into our kitchens.
The 109th Congress passed and President Bush signed legislation concerning the DTV transition. Below find Benton resources on the law:
- The Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005: A summary of the DTV transition law.
- Getting to February 2009: Implementing the Digital TV Transition: A quick outline of the timeline for implementing the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act, and the requirements it makes on various government bodies -– and consumers -– to end analog television broadcasts in the US on February 17, 2009.
- Getting to February 2009: Outstanding DTV Transition Issues: Unresolved in the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act are a number of issues that will determine the success of the investment Americans are making in the transition.
Recent Legislation:
- S. 2125 Preparing America’s Seniors for the Digital Television Transition Act of 2007
- S. 93 911 Modernization Act
- H.R. 608 To further inform consumers about the transition to digital television
- View all Legislation
Media Ownership
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted in early June 2003 to relax the nation's media ownership rules, resulting in strong reactions to the decision that is spurring court action and new legislation.
The FCC is an independent, federal regulatory body that sets the limits on who can own what media properties. Congress has mandated that the nation's media ownership rules promote "localism, competition, and diversity in the media." Among other things the overturned rules limited a single corporation from dominating local TV markets or from merging a community's TV stations, radio stations, and newspaper. They also prevented the merging of two of the major Television networks (FOX, NBC, ABC, or CBS).
Proponents of the deregulatory course the FCC has set in motion say the existing rules cannot withstand court challenges and are obsolete with the growth of the Internet, cable, and satellite TV. Vocal opponents of deregulation fear that a greater concentration of media ownership will lead to fewer voices, excessive control over content, and less local news -- threatening democracy in the digital age. Members of Congress are advancing legislation to reverse the FCC's decision.
Recent Legislation:
- H.J. RES. 79 Disapproving the rule submitted by the Federal Communications Commission with respect to broadcast media ownership
- S.J.RES.28 A joint resolution disapproving the rule submitted by the Federal Communications Commission with respect to broadcast
- H.R. 4835 Media Ownership Act
- S. 2332 Media Ownership Act of 2007
- View all Legislation
Public Interest Obligations
Federal law requires broadcasters to serve the "public interest, convenience, and necessity." But the law does not specify how the "public interest" is best served. Some in Congress want to better define how broadcasters should serve their local communities.
Recent Legislation:
Archived - 109th Congress
Legislation from the 109th Congress
Subtopics:
• Telecommunications Policy Reform (Archived)
• Digital Television Transition (Archived)
• Universal Service Modernization (Archived)
In all of these legislative debates, Congress will set the course for whether:
- the public interest continues to be a central focus of communications policy,
- allowing innovation to flourish, competition to thrive and investment to follow will be confused with broad deregulation and concentrating communications choices in the hands of a few, and
- media choices and consumer voices will expand in the digital age.
Benton’s Guide: A Front Row View Into The Debate
As Congress undertakes this sweeping rewrite of our telecommunications laws, the Benton Foundation is launching this new one-stop online resource to give advocates, academics, policymakers, and others the tools they need to stay abreast of the debate.
This is the second major rewrite of telecommunications Act in 70 years. As Congress debated the last major rewrite—the 1996 Telecom Act—the Benton Foundation played a central role in helping the public keep track of what was happening, why it mattered, and what it meant.
Tools For Tracking Telcom Talk
This non-partisan fact-filled Benton resource is intended to keep the public informed again. It includes up-to-date:
- Summaries of key bills
- A guide to what public interest and industry groups are saying
- Links to the reports that Congress will rely upon and
- The stories that cover it all
Tools To Stay On Top As the Stories Break:
To stay abreast of the headlines as they break, we also recommend signing up for the Benton Foundation’s Headlines news service for a daily feed of the news that is driving these debates. (Sign up here)