Former FCCers Push for ACP Funding, Auction Authority at MMTC

Congress should continue to fund the affordable connectivity program, the FCC may not be the right entity to regulate AI and the agency's spectrum auction authority should be restored, said former FCC chairs and commissioners at the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council’s 2023 virtual Former Chairs’ Symposium Tuesday. Panelists -- including former acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn and former Chairman Richard Wiley -- also discussed diversity, the failed Standard/Tegna deal, and the confirmation of nominee Anna Gomez. Gomez is “a mainstream Democrat” who will “work well on a bipartisan basis,” said former Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein. “She’s not particularly ideological even though she’s been a strong fighter.”

Adelstein, Clyburn and Wiley -- who was a law partner with Gomez -- said they expect Gomez to be confirmed by September at the latest. “I'm not really a betting woman, but I did get a phone call from a number of people that we should see something by Labor Day,” said Clyburn. “It’s not a question of if but when.”

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and others are continuing to push Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to set up floor votes on Gomez before the chamber begins the August recess, but the chances this will happen are no higher than 50%, a Democratic aide told us Tuesday. Some lobbyists said the chances range from 30%-40%. Schumer’s push to complete Senate passage of the FY 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (S-2226) is likely to eat up much of the chamber’s floor time this week and his Tuesday remarks on the weekly agenda didn’t mention confirmation of executive nominees as a priority.

With Gomez in place, the FCC is likely to begin taking on more controversial matters such as net neutrality or broadcast ownership rules, said Wiley. He praised the agency’s bipartisan record, but condemned its action on Standard/Tegna, which would have increased minority ownership. Designating that deal for hearing “created uncertainty in the whole merger review process,” he said. Clyburn, who was employed as a consultant by Standard and advocated for the transaction, stopped short of specifically condemning the FCC but said the first directive for the review process should be transparency. “The rules of the road need to be known by all the parties,” she said, though she also said “no transaction should substantially lessen competition.”

The FCC needs to “clear the path” to let minority broadcasters “flourish” in the face of increasing disinformation and the recent U.S. Supreme Court affirmative action decision, said Rep. Steve Horsford, D-Nev. Conservative lawmakers and others are seeking to expand the reach of that decision by mischaracterizing it, and “trusted local voices are the best weapon against misinformation,” he said. The SCOTUS decision shouldn’t dissuade the FCC from programs aimed at helping minority groups, Clyburn said. The agency could target such programs without making them explicitly race-based by favoring specific ZIP codes or other metrics, she said.

Horsford also said he supports replenishing funding for the ACP, which Adelstein and Clyburn echoed. “We’ve got to be concerned about contribution reform,” said Wiley. The “telecommunications contribution base is shrinking as communications moves more and more to broadband data networks” and will eventually be “untenable,” he said. Not continuing funding for the ACP will cut off access to broadband from many users who have grown dependent on it, but Congress is “facing a difficult budgetary environment,” said Adelstein, now with broadband infrastructure company Digital Bridge. It's “unacceptable” to cut people from access to broadband, said Clyburn. Lawmakers should avoid “tying the hands of grantmakers” with requirements that ACP funds be spent on fiber infrastructure,” said Adelstein.

All the former FCC officials said the agency's authority to oversee spectrum auctions should be restored. Spectrum auctions put money in the U.S. Treasury and "have been one of the most successful programs the FCC has ever done," said Wiley. The lack of auction authority is delaying future auctions and preventing spectrum from being deployed, Adelstein said.

AI is “the killer app” for monetizing 5G and 6G, said Adelstein. The “tailwind” of interest in AI is driving construction of data centers and network infrastructure buildout, he said. AI doesn’t naturally fall under the purview of the FCC and it's too early to regulate it, Wiley said, but Clyburn disagreed. Steps should be taken to regulate AI to get ahead of a host of individual state laws governing it, Clyburn said. “Things are going to happen whether we move or not. Do we want a patchwork?” A regulatory scheme for AI should encourage technological development “while ensuring that some of the excesses are protected against,” said Adelstein. “I'm not sure that the FCC is the right place to do it.”