Washington Beat

The House Energy & Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, chaired by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), will hold its second FCC Oversight hearing of the current Congress next Wednesday. This will be the first Oversight Hearing for the full Commission, however, and it will begin at 2pm Eastern in the Rayburn House Office Building.

A community self-described as one comprised “of more than 90,000 technology professionals and consumers committed to advancing innovation, growing our nation’s IT economy, and enhancing the fabric of our nation through technology” has once again urged the FCC to preserve no less than three TV white spaces channels in every market in the nation that can be used to carry “innovative broadband technology.”

Today marks a very special occasion for the Recording Academy. It’s District Advocate Day, which sees the activation of group members across the country to meet with their local member of Congress "to discuss important updates to music legislation." Translation: Lobbying is being done to gain support for presently moribund House bills that would impose more royalty fees on radio stations across the U.S.

"Ol' Dad" Ken Benner, a featured RBR+TVBR Media Information Bureau columnist based in Tucson, remains determined to find ways to keep your radio station's balance sheet free of payments to the U.S. Treasury, or to the FCC in response to a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture. In his latest offering, Benner takes his magnifying glass and focuses on the Commission's instructions for license renewal form 303-S. You may wish to do the same, considering what he's uncovered.

Nearly one year ago, a buccaneer in the Heart of Dixie was slapped with a steep fine for operating an FM station without a license. The FCC's Enforcement Bureau has finally reviewed, and adjudicated, on the response to its NAL from the individual found to have been operating an unlicensed radio station in Guntersville, Ala. The message to this radio pirate? Surrender the booty.

The FCC has notched a victory against two multicultural advocacy groups in a District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals that upholds the Commission's belief that it is not required to mandate multilingual emergency alerts for all broadcast media stations. 

The Incentive Auction Task Force and the Media Bureau on Monday (10/16) affirmed the initial allocation of $1 billion in the TV Broadcaster Relocation Fund. The funds are the first designed to reimburse eligible full power and Class A broadcasters and multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) for expenses related to the construction of station facilities on reassigned channels.

Nearly 60 Members of Congress have formally asked FCC Chairman Ajit Pai to stick to the current timeline for repacking TV stations, following the recently concluded broadcast spectrum incentive auction. The letter, which shows bipartisan support, urges Pai "to ensure" the 600 MHz spectrum that was made available by the FCC's broadcast incentive auction is cleared no later than July 3, 2020.

Fourteen Houston-area broadcast media leaders and Texas Association of Broadcasters President Oscar Rodriguez have sent a letter to Republican Congressman Kevin Brady — who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee — asking that any tax reform proposal introduced in the lower body of Congress preserve the ability of businesses to annually deduct the full cost of advertising in the year it is incurred.

She's back ... and she's got some words for her Republican colleagues at the FCC. Democratic Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel spoke out against several GOP-pushed items the Commission seeks, or has already done. She offered comments on Net Neutrality; Next Gen TV, which the NAB was swift to respond to; and the restoration of the "UHF Discount" in the context of Sinclair Broadcast Group's proposed merger with Tribune Media.

Two Ranking Members of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee are pleading for a hearing with the head of the FCC and each of the Commissions. Why? "So that they can publicly disavow President Donald Trump's repeated threats to revoke NBC's broadcaster license due to its reporting."

Another day, another Twitter-fueled controversy courtesy of the Commander-in-Chief. "With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!" The Tweet from President Trump resulted in a firestorm of criticism -- including comments made during the FCC reauthorization bill markup hearing from a leading Democrat.

The Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, chaired by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), is moving forward with a markup of a FCC reauthorization bill by bringing it to the full House Energy & Commerce Committee. The shift from the Subcommittee to the full Committee came via a unanimous voice vote this afternoon at a 30-minute hearing overseen by Blackburn at the Rayburn House Office Building on the south side of Capitol Hill.

It's already been a fun 24 hours in La-La Land for FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. With a Monday night visit to In-N-Out Burger completing one highly important goal for any visitor to Southern California, Pai then drove to the FOX Sports Radio studios to meet 9am-Noon Pacific sports talk host Rich Eisen. His purpose in L.A.? To motor some 45 minutes northwest to Simi Valley for a speech this evening at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute.

The Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, chaired by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), announced today it will be holding a markup on Wednesday, October 11, 2017, at 2:00 p.m. in room 2123 of the Rayburn House Office Building.