Friday, March 10, 2006

New Commissioner Nominated

Robert McDowell has been nominated by President Bush to fill the fifth seat on the Federal Communication Commission. The Senate Confirmation hearing for McDowell was yesterday. McDowell is Senior VP and assistant general counsel for COMPTEL. With more than 350 members, COMPTEL is the leading industry association representing VoIP providers, integrated communications companies, and their supplier partners. The organization represents the builders of networks to provide competitive voice, data and video services around the world. The goal of COMPTEL is to create and sustain true competition in the telecommunications industry. He is a lawyer with wide experience before regulatory bodies and the courts. His confirmation by the full Senate is expected within a couple of weeks. This will give Chairman Martin the third Republican vote on the commission and enable him to take up a number of controversial measures that he could not tackle until he had the third vote. Lots of FCC actions, including the rewrite of radio and TV rules should more forward now.  

New Jersey Congressman Drops Radio Flag Bill

Congressman Mike Ferguson, Republican from the 7^th congressional district, mostly Somerset County, has introduced a bill opposed by both the New Jersey Broadcasters Association and the NAB calling for a radio broadcast flag for Satellite and digital radio broadcasts. The flag, which would protect record companies from copyright infringement by preventing copying of both satellite and HD digital broadcasts is opposed by radio groups because we feel that the industry has not yet reached agreement on what a flag should look like and do not want to see federal legislation passed until all parties have agreed on the substance of what should and what should not be protected. For example, should a listener be allowed to record a tune from a radio broadcast for his or her own personal use?  Further, what technical standards if any, should be employed within the transmission of a broadcast signal to prevent piracy? Broadcasters believe that we should have the answers to these questions before any legislation is passed. We have asked for time to let the various industry partners work this out. However, Congressman Ferguson has moved ahead, without any notice to broadcasters and entered a bill, which we must oppose. President Phil Roberts has discussed the legislation with the Congressman’s staff and they describe the bill “as the beginning of a process and Congressman Ferguson looks forward to hearing from all interested parties regarding their views and soliciting their input. It’s the Congressman’s hope that this matter gets resolved in the private sector”. A meeting has been scheduled within the next few weeks between the RIAA and the NAB to see if there is any common ground between the recording industry and radio broadcasters. The Congressman’s staffer apologized for not discussing the bill with the NJBA before submitting it and requested that President Phil Roberts make any comments about the bill sooner rather then later. We were further assured that the bill would not impede the rollout of HD Radio. Regardless of the above, Broadcasters will work to defeat the legislation.   

Get your Best of the Best entries ready.  Memo and entry form have been mailed.  The dealine is April 14th.

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