Andrew Schwartzman

"We are extremely pleased that the FCC has adopted new and powerful rules prohibiting digital discrimination.  We have nonetheless challenged two small, but important provisions of the rules today in the U.S.

The Benton Institute for Broadband & Society, Public Knowledge, Free Press, the United Church of Christ, OC, Inc. Leadership Conference, USC Gould School of Law and Office of the County Counsel, and the County of Santa Clara spoke with Federal Communications Commission General Counsel staff on Oct. 5, 2023, regarding net neutrality.

Acting on instruction from Congress in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Federal Communications Commission has invited comment on the effect of the Infrastructure Act on Universal Service Fund (USF) programs and how the FCC can reach its goals of universal deployment, affordability, adoption, availability, and equitable access to broadband throughout the United States.

[This article was originally published on August 22, 2018]

Aug 20, 2018 was Opening Day for the litigation appealing the Federal Communications Commission’s December 2017 network neutrality decision. 

Today we mark a trifecta of governmental malfeasance: last year, the FCC’s majority ignored bipartisan public support for the net neutrality protections the Commission adopted in 2015; it displayed a flawed and factually inaccurate understanding of Internet technology, and it misinterpreted U.S. communications law. Last year, Benton promised that net neutrality was not dead and predicted wins at both ballot boxes and in the courts. In November, the American public overwhelmingly backed candidates that support net neutrality.

After a long pre-season in which little else happened other than setting a schedule and format for briefing, August 20, 2018 was Opening Day for the litigation appealing the Federal Communications Commission’s December 2017 network neutrality decision. Two groups of challengers (technically referred to as “petitioners”) filed their briefs Monday evening in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

After months of relative inactivity, there will soon be some important movement in litigation over the Federal Communications Commission’s network neutrality rules. The fact that there are two different cases in two different courts litigating over two different decisions is likely to cause considerable confusion in the coming weeks. On Monday, August 20, challengers will be filing their initial briefs in their appeal of the Trump Administration FCC’s oxymoronic “Restoring Internet Freedom” order.

[Commentary] The ultra high frequency (UHF) Discount is the zombie of media policy, likely to rise from the dead this week at the Federal Communications Commission’s April 20, 2017 meeting. The likely restoration of the UHF Discount raises interesting legal issues, since no one disputes that there the policy rationale for its adoption has long since disappeared. Those arguments will play out at the Federal Communications Commission and, perhaps, in the courts, but this post is about the colorful history of the UHF Discount and why restoring it would likely lead to vastly increased concentration of control of TV stations in this country. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has made plain that he intends to relax or repeal almost all of the Commission’s restrictions on how many media properties a broadcaster can own or operate. However, the very first item on his list, which he has slated for expedited consideration, actually restores a very important, if seemingly arcane, provision that his predecessor had deleted - the so-called UHF discount.
[Andrew Jay Schwartzman is the Benton Senior Counselor at the Public Interest Communications Law Project at Georgetown University Law Center's Institute for Public Representation]

[Commentary] President Donald Trump has moved quickly to use Executive Orders and other plenary powers to deliver on some of his major campaign promises on issues such as immigration, the Dakota Access pipeline and appointment of a conservative Supreme Court Justice. For the most part, however, his promised deregulatory assault on what his chief strategist Steven Bannon calls the “Administrative State” has not advanced as quickly. Hundreds of top-level positions at Executive Branch agencies remain vacant, and the process of rescinding regulatory policies can be cumbersome and time consuming. There is at least one important exception - media and telecommunications regulation at the Federal Communications Commission. Within weeks after taking office, newly-designated FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has moved aggressively and with unprecedented speed to overturn many recent FCC decisions and changed some longstanding policies. While some of these actions are more symbolic in nature, others have had immediate and significant impact. Many more such actions are likely to be unveiled in the weeks, not to mention months, to come.
[Andrew Jay Schwartzman is the Benton Senior Counselor at the Public Interest Communications Law Project at Georgetown University Law Center's Institute for Public Representation]

[Commentary] When telecom engineers are shooting the breeze, they often use the phrase "Project Angel" as a punchline. For almost 20 years, AT&T (and its predecessor company, also called AT&T) periodically announced that it was going to use revolutionary and exotic technologies to deliver high-speed wireless service that could replace (at first) copper phone lines and, later, to deliver ultra-fast broadband service. Despite big press announcements (such as these in 1997, 2000 , and 2002), Project Angel never happened. At least until now. This could be very important. AT&T is unveiling (for only the second time) yet another new wireless scheme, one which has been announced only once before. This time, it is calling the new initiative "Project AirGig," but the hype, if not the technology, is similar. Except this time, the market and the technology might actually let this happen. The telecom folks are abuzz again, because this is really audacious. The idea seems to be that AT&T would mount transmitters along electrical power lines and use the proximity to the electricity to help relay ultra high speed Internet along the rights of way. Speculation that AT&T really means it this time has been fueled by the fact that AT&T announced that it will buy FiberTower, a company that controls a large swathe of very high frequency spectrum. Keep an eye on this, because if it works, it could reduce the need for fiber and perhaps greatly reduce the cost of Internet access.