FCC Should Not Appeal Net Neutrality Ruling, Pai Says
The FCC shouldn’t appeal the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decision that struck down most of the agency’s net neutrality order (CD Jan 15 p1), said Commissioner Ajit Pai. The “better course” would be to let Congress clarify the scope of FCC authority over the Internet, he said. Pai also discussed during the appearance to be shown this weekend on C-SPAN the FCC incentive auction and repacking, broadcaster sharing agreements and hotel phone problems with dialing 911.
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Reclassifying the Internet as a Title II service would be applying “19th-century style railroad regulations” to the Internet, Pai said in the Communicators installment that was taped Wednesday. Because the Internet has become the focal point of competition from many different sorts of companies, the “ecosystem” will prevent abuses “without the need for prophylactic regulations from the FCC,” he said. Pai said that if a company was found to be engaged in anticompetitive conduct, the FCC could step in. The absence of a net neutrality order won’t lead to higher costs for consumers, Pai said.
The inability of some hotel room phones to call 911 could be addressed by reprogramming phone systems, Pai said, referring to a letter he recently sent to hotel CEOs (CD Jan 14 p14). The issue is “screaming out” for public awareness, he said. The problem is caused by the private branch exchange systems used by many hotels, some of which are not able to recognize 911 calls, Pai said. The commissioner became aware of the problem after reading a news account about a child who witnessed her mother’s fatal stabbing while dialing 911 without reaching emergency dispatchers. Pai spoke with the child’s grandfather about the issue Tuesday, he said. He has not yet heard back from the hotel chains he contacted on the issue.
It’s possible a Supreme Court decision on Aereo could lead to the FCC getting involved in the matter (CD Jan 13 p5), Pai said. Aereo’s issues with copyright laws shouldn’t be addressed by applying the multichannel video programming distributor designation and the “panoply” of rules associated with it, Pai said. Companies that use “innovative business models” should not fall under the MVPD regulations, he said.
Pai doesn’t oppose sharing agreements in recent TV station deals that have been a focus of public interest group criticism, he said. Joint sales agreements and shared service agreements “don’t pose a threat to consumers” and aren’t anticompetitive, Pai said. If the FCC tries to change the rules governing such agreements, it could take away a useful tool for preserving broadcasting, Pai said.
The spectrum incentive auction will be held in 2015 as planned, said Pai, as long as the FCC is able to complete the necessary preparations. Part of that process should be an “aggressive outreach to broadcasters,” Pai said. The outreach would involve educating broadcasters about the software that will be used in the auction and finding out broadcaster concerns ahead of the repacking effort, he said. “First, we need to understand the magnitude of the problem.” The commission shouldn’t impose spectrum aggregation limits, because it will reduce participation in the auction and therefore revenue, Pai said. “It would be foolhardy to limit spectrum holdings."
The amount of spectrum freed up and the revenue generated are the important considerations in the FCC’s upcoming H-block auction rather than a lack of participants, Pai said. The H-block auction should be held now, “when we know we can receive a significant amount of revenue,” Pai said.