Industry Executives to Laud Ray Baum's Act in House Communications Hearing
Industry witnesses at a Tuesday House Communications Subcommittee hearing will laud the passage and ongoing implementation of the Repack Airwaves Yielding Better Access for Users of Modern Services (Ray Baum's) Act FCC reauthorization and spectrum statute, in written testimony. They will outline additional legislative measures for consideration in the 116th Congress. The House Communications hearing is expected to emphasize the statute's language to aid the broadcast incentive auction repacking process. Lawmakers are likely to again raise concerns about the FCC's broadband coverage data mapping practices (see 1812070040). The hearing begins at 2 p.m. in Rayburn 2322.
Several witnesses cited the law's allocation of an additional $1 billion in additional repack funding beyond the additional $1.75 billion in the Broadcaster Relocation Fund. The money gives “all full power television broadcasters the confidence that their costs would be reimbursed over the course of the repack,” said NAB Executive Vice President-Government Relations Curtis LeGeyt. The additional funding was divided between $600 million available in FY 2018 and $400 million in FY 2019. “This essential funding will help ensure that public television stations can continue providing the services,” said Milwaukee PBS General Manager Bohdan Zachary. Competitive Carriers Association Senior Vice President-Legislative Affairs Tim Donovan cited the repacking funding as one of several reasons the law is a “significant bipartisan accomplishment.”
APCO International Chief Counsel Jeff Cohen and others note public safety communications provisions, with Cohen saying the law “has potential to be one of the most impactful pieces of federal legislation to have become law in years.” The Ray Baum's Act included language from the Securing Access to Networks in Disasters (Sandy) Act and the 2016 Requesting Emergency Services and Providing Origination Notification Systems Everywhere (Response) Act.
LeGeyt urges House Commerce to again examine repack timeline rules. “The current black-letter FCC rules leave broadcasters exposed” in cases where they are unable to meet their repack deadline because of extenuating circumstances, though the FCC has been able to reassign deadlines in some cases, he says. “Viewers should not be left in the dark if stations encounter challenges that make it impossible to meet their deadlines despite their best efforts and due to events outside their control.” LeGeyt says the committee should ensure “existing users” of C-band spectrum “are fully protected and reimbursed should a portion of the spectrum be reallocated for mobile broadband use.” He urges House Commerce to not reauthorize the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act.
Donovan says House Commerce should pursue further spectrum legislation next Congress, notably the Advancing Innovation and Reinvigorating Widespread Access to Viable Electromagnetic Spectrum Act. HR-4953 and Senate version S-1682 aim to identify spectrum for unlicensed use and free up mid-band frequencies for purchase via a future FCC auction.
Donovan cites the need for improvements to the FCC broadband data collection process. The FY 2018 spending law allocated funding to NTIA to coordinate the federal government's broadband mapping activities with an eye to commission difficulties. “Congress must stay engaged as the current investigation moves forward and ensure that the parameters for determining eligible areas produce reliable data,” Donovan says. Sens. Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen, both D-N.H., lauded Monday FCC launch of an investigation into whether major carriers violated the Mobility Fund Phase II (MF-II) reverse auction mapping rules (see 1812070048).