O'Rielly Eager for GOP Changes, Undoing Partisan Decisions, Hopes for Collaboration

Commissioner Mike O'Rielly expects "a lot of change" at the FCC when Republicans take control of the agency under incoming President Donald Trump. O'Rielly said he's looking forward to action in four main areas: removing "regulatory underbrush" that has been around a long time; fixing the commission's organization and procedures; moving a "pro-growth, pro-innovation agenda" -- for instance, by addressing tower siting for next-generation wireless; and undoing "bad policies" adopted by the current commission on partisan votes, including the FCC's net neutrality and broadband reclassification order. The specific agenda will flow from who Trump installs at the helm, O'Rielly said.

He "wouldn't be surprised" if fellow GOP Commissioner Ajit Pai is named interim chairman. "I haven't gotten any information that would suggest otherwise," O'Rielly said, noting he would be happy in whatever his role. He was interviewed for a segment of C-SPAN's The Communicators that's to be televised Saturday and Monday (and to be available here).

O'Rielly said the net neutrality order reclassifying broadband under Title II of the Communications Act was harmful. "I don't think it should have been adopted," and it should be undone, he said. “I think that net neutrality needs to be explored in the broader sense. I have problems with some of the concepts that are contained within the decisions that then get codified under Title II in terms of the commission’s rules. I think that will be a priority."

The commissioner said he would defer to congressional Republicans, who also want to roll back Title II broadband regulation and address net neutrality with new legislation. But "the commission can move forward [and] undo policies that I think were wrongly imposed," O'Rielly said: "If Congress were to act in this space, I would be supportive of that -- and have been supportive in the past that Congress provide us a clear direction, whatever decisions they make, and we will implement the law that they enact. But in the meantime, I think we need to take some things off the books." He criticized broadband privacy rules that grew out of the Title II reclassification, and said he believes the FTC is the more appropriate agency there. It's done a fairly good job, in most people's analysis, he said.

O'Rielly hopes FCC Republicans and Democrats can collaborate to develop bipartisan solutions on communications issues, which he said generally aren't partisan, with a few exceptions. He saw little room for reaching consensus with Democrats on reversing Title II broadband reclassification or even addressing the specifics of net neutrality rules. He said he understood it "could be a tough couple of months ahead" as the commission addresses the issue. "There's only so much agreement we're going to have on net neutrality," he said, though he believed there's "some room to find agreement" in Congress.

He disputed there was a legitimate rationale for banning paid prioritization, as the FCC's net neutrality order did. "I want to see demonstrable harm, market failure," he said. Internet traffic prioritization is how the Internet works in many instances, and there could be cases where paid prioritization is beneficial, such as if it's required to ensure service quality for remote surgery, he said.

O'Rielly criticized current commission efforts to examine zero rating practices of industry players such as AT&T and Verizon. "I have real concerns about trying to limit zero rating until we know" more, he said, suggesting that consumers were enjoying benefits offered by wireless carriers as well as by wireline providers. He said he had asked to be part of the commission team looking into zero rating but was denied.

He said current commissioners are "actively trying" to find noncontroversial items that can still be adopted. He noted the FCC is scheduled to address some items at Thursday's meeting, including on real-time text and the emergency alert system, and is seeing what may be doable and what would be inappropriate. "I imagine there are some things that we can still do, whether they be at the open meeting or on circulation. We'll just have to see how accommodating everybody is," he said.

O'Rielly said that traditionally, FCC chairmen have resigned from the agency when there's a change in power, but he didn't know what current Chairman Tom Wheeler would do (see 1612130014). "Tom has always surprised me over the years," he said. O'Rielly said Wheeler's legacy was "an open question" because it was tied to decisions and processes that could be changed under Republicans. "I think we'll get to review some of the outcome side and hopefully improve the process," he said.

Noting he had put forward 25 ideas for improving FCC processes, only three of which he thought had been adopted, O'Rielly said the most critical change would be to publicly release the text of agenda items three weeks before commissioners' meetings. "Making the document available makes a ton of sense," he said. He also said combining and eliminating bureaus "should be on the table" as traditional industry lines blur. Noting some proposals to eliminate the agency, O'Rielly said spectrum management and licensing were vital functions, though he was open to how they should be structured.

O'Rielly was very supportive of Trump's idea of eliminating two regulations for every one that's imposed. "We have a lot of regulations that can go," O'Rielly said. He suggested media ownership restrictions could be relaxed, including cross-ownership rules. He said cybersecurity is a key issue for the country, but didn't believe the FCC had a large role to play unless Congress were to give it new authority and a mandate.

He is skeptical the Republican FCC should address business data service regulation. "I'm not so sure that the market hasn't passed it by. The developments in this space have been pretty important," he said.