Wheeler Plans to ‘Do Things Differently’ on Media Sharing Arrangements

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler wants to look at what some call shell corporations, he said on audience queries about those who may be getting around media ownership rules, at an Oakland, Calif., town hall meeting Thursday night. The event was hosted by the Voices for Internet Freedom Coalition in partnership with the Center for Media Justice, Free Press, ColorOfChange and National Hispanic Media Coalition. He also passionately denounced those who try to defraud FCC services like LifeLine. Wheeler spent most of the night sitting alone at the dais of a packed room, listening to community members ask the commission for help. It was a rare opportunity for Oakland residents to appeal directly to the head of the agency, and likely an unusual situation for Wheeler, whose remarks aren’t often preceded by beat poetry by the local youth poet laureate.

Wheeler was responding to audience criticism over so-called shell companies some allegedly use to evade media ownership rules. “In an arcane way that only the lawyers would understand -- but stay tuned -- there were a couple of references in a couple of recent decisions in which we've said that we're going to do things differently going forward on what were called these shell corporations,” Wheeler said. “We're going to look at that differently.”

Wheeler confirmed that one of his first actions as chairman was to eliminate the draft rule change that eased cross-ownership restriction so that companies could merge more. Agency, industry and public interest officials told us last month that Wheeler had yanked the draft ownership rules from circulation (CD Dec 16 p1).

For more than an hour, audience members lined up at a mic at the front of the room to air their grievances and ask for Wheeler’s help. A common refrain was the need for expanded phone and Internet services for poor communities, as some speakers criticized the FCC requirement that subscribers provide the last four digits of their Social Security number. “I am a big supporter of Lifeline,” Wheeler said, to applause from the standing-room-only crowd of more than 200. “And do you know what really upsets me? … What really upsets me about programs like Lifeline and Video Relay Service, which are the American people coming together through their government to do things that need to be done to help other Americans,” is when “they are abused by people who step up and engage in fraudulent activities,” he said. “One, the fraud is bad, but two, the effect of the fraud on the people who deserve the program is outrageous.” The crowd burst into applause. Wheeler continued, his voice loud with emotion that “we're not going to put up with it! Because that kind of crap gets in the way of doing the kinds of things that programs like this were intended to do, ought to do, and is our job to make sure they do.” Wheeler called the idea of Lifeline for broadband “a legitimate concept,” and said the agency has to “find a way to make it work.”

Public Utilities Commissioner Catherine Sandoval said California’s LifeLine program was “at the precipice of a game changer.” Because the federal program doesn’t require carriers to provide a minimum number of minutes, many give only 250 minutes per month, she said. People run out of minutes while on hold with social services, and a state plan would give LifeLine subscribers more minutes, she said. “The whole idea of running out of minutes while you're talking to a suicide hotline is just unthinkable."

Many audience members spoke of the need to increase minority ownership of media outlets. “People of color make up two-thirds of the population and own only 5 percent of the region’s full-power television stations,” said Free Press Associate Policy Director Chancellor Williams at the start of the event. “We need the legal right to own and operate our own media,” said Center for Media Justice Executive Director Malkia Cyril, “so our children won’t grow up in a world that hates them.”

Sandoval spoke of the need for adequate bandwidth to schools, which increasingly require online testing. “I want to make sure that the kids of California are not being tested on how fast their Internet connection is, but on how good their brains are,” she said. “Unfortunately that is what’s going to happen unless we do something about it.” Unlike in Beverly Hills, there’s no way to get thousands of kids on the Internet at the same time in Oakland, she said. This leads some counties to bus kids hours away to locations where there is adequate bandwidth to take tests, she said.

Before the community testimony began, officials from Oakland-based groups discussed the battle over an open Internet, the need for consumer protection as the telecom industry transitions to IP, and high phone rates for prisoners. Wheeler said he gets calls from sheriffs saying the FCC’s prison revamp order is hurting prisons’ ability to pay for things like new uniforms, but those things “were being paid for on the backs of prisoners’ families,” Wheeler said. “That was wrong.” One woman spoke of paying more than $3,000 a year to talk with her son in prison. “I'm never going to forget that story,” said Wheeler, who by the end of the night was being referred to as “Brother Wheeler” by other speakers. “I'm glad I was here tonight,” he said. “I'm carrying that story with me.”