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Media Policy Watch
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This summer has been particularly busy for NHMC, as the D.C. Policy Team has been focused on FCC reforms to expand broadband to low income communities and communities of color. In the month of July alone, we filed a comment urging the FCC to provide for greater broadband access at schools and libraries, and two other comments asking the FCC to expand Lifeline and Link Up programs, which currently provide telephone discounts to low income customers, so that those programs can also discount broadband services. In addition, NHMC Vice President of Policy & Legal Affairs, Jessica Gonzalez, briefed Congressional Hispanic Caucus Members on the importance of broadband in the Latino community at the CHC BOLD PAC Retreat in late July. A few days letter she presented on the same issue to a packed room of Congressional Hispanic Caucus staffers. A summary of her remarks is available here. NHMC has also been collaborating with counsel from Georgetown Law’s Institute for Public Representation, to file numerous FCC comments aimed at diversifying the broadcast media. Thanks are in order to Georgetown’s Angela J. Campbell, Adrienne Biddings and Guilherme Roschke for their tireless efforts to preserve the public interest in diverse points of view in broadcast media. Finally, NHMC has undertaken efforts to help consumers understand and communicate with their telecommunications and media providers, as well as with the Federal Communications Commission. To that end, we have developed a “Consumer Info” tab on our web-site, and have filed comments with the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Initiative to advocate that cell phone providers be more transparent about their billing practices. NHMC thanks New America Foundation’s Senior Policy Analyst, Benjamin Lennett, for his leadership in drafting comments to advance the rights of consumers, and Latinos in particular.
Comcast/NBC Universal Merger To be clear, NHMC does not see this MOU as a solution to the ills of media consolidation. If you will remember, in early June NHMC President and CEO, Alex Nogales, testifed on the merger at a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee in Los Angeles. His testimony is available here. Alex explained his reasoning for signing the MOU in a op-ed published on the Huffington Post web-site in mid-July. The MOU is now publicly available on the FCC web-site.
Local Community Radio Act S. 592 has officially been placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar, meaning it is now poised for a floor vote. According to the Prometheus Radio Project, the major force behind LPFM legislation, the only step after a Senate vote is the application of a Presidential signature. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and John McCain (R-AZ) were the drivers behind the bill in the Senate, and Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Russ Feingold (D-WI), Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) co-sponsored. For more information on the Local Community Radio Act, click here.
Network Neutrality On January 22nd at the Minority Media and Telecommunication Council’s Broadband and Social Justice Summit, FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn commended NHMC for our advocacy of open Internet principles, quoting directly from our comments (the Commissioner’s remarks are available at http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-295888A1.pdf). That same day, Jessica Gonzalez partnered with the Media Access Project’s Parul Desai to blog about the importance of network neutrality for communities of color (that piece can be read here). On April 26th NHMC submitted reply comments to the FCC, underlining the important accomplishments that Latino small business owners and content creators have achieved because of open Internet policies (those comments are available at http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7020438475. In April the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued an opinion in Comcast v. FCC. Comcast v. FCC not only undermines the FCC's authority to implement network neutrality rules, it also calls into question the FCC's ability to enact many portions of its National Broadband Plan that involve consumer protection and expanding affordable broadband access. In response, NHMC signed onto a letter with the Open Internet Coalition, urging the FCC to reclassify broadband as a telecommunications service so that it may enact net neutrality rules and carry out its duties under the National Broadband Plan. To learn more about the consequences of Comcast v. FCC, you can read FCC General Counsel Austin Schlick's blog at http://blog.broadband.gov/?entryId=356610. This month FCC Chairman Genachowski released a plan designed to allow the FCC to protect consumers and expand broadband access while minimizing regulatory burdens on broadband providers. Other organizations representing people of color that are supporting network neutrality include: For more information on Network Neutrality, click here.
Media Ownership In addition, NHMC is poised to challenge the individual licenses of stations that are not in compliance with the FCC's ownership regulations. For example, on June 14th with IPR's counsel, NHMC filed a joint petition to deny the transfer of Tribune broadcast stations. If our petition to deny is granted, it will result in more media diversity and stymie further consolidation. The petition to deny is also significant because it will lead to the FCC's first examination of broadcast conglomerates under the deregulatory version of the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rule and will set precedent for how this new version of the rule is enforced. That petition to deny can be read here. For more information on Media Ownership, click here.
Universal Broadband The FCC is now in the process of implementing its National Broadband Plan. To that end, it has issued a flurry of public notices seeking comment on how to expand broadband in rural areas, to low income individuals and in schools in libraries, just to name a few. Since its inception, the FCC has been charged with finding ways to make telephone service universally available to the public. Those efforts have been largely successful. Now, the FCC is proposing to expand many of the "universal service" programs to help subsidize affordable broadband access. NHMC supports the FCC's efforts, and have offered several comments about how it should implement. For a summary of NHMC's position on broadband and Latinos, click here. To find details on NHMC's advocacy efforts, please visit here. For more information on Universal Broadband, click here.
Performance Rights Act On October 14th NHMC sent a letter to Congress, stating that “we believe in the old-fashioned idea that musicians, like all workers, deserve to be paid for their hard work. Although their lives may look glamorous to some, we know that it is a very challenging line of work, and that fundamental fairness dictates that they be paid. Like others, they struggle to make ends meet, especially in these economically challenging times. Many live paycheck to paycheck, and these royalty payments, for the work they have brought to life, will mean a lot to them. We are writing on behalf of the thousands of backup singers, classical musicians and others who work several jobs and know, in their heart of hearts, that they deserve to be paid for their hard work.” Corporate radio – which has enjoyed this windfall of free content for years – is trying to hide behind small minority and religious broadcasters, claiming that this Act will put them out of business. Yet this bill is written to protect small broadcasters, as they will pay no more than $5,000 per year (and even less depending on the circumstances) to performance rights. For more information on Performance Rights Act, click here.
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