IP Democracy: House Democrats and the Internet, Telecom Agenda
The Democrats now control the House of Representatives for the first time since 1994 and the complexion of Internet and telecom-related policy and legislative matters will change, perhaps dramatically. Republican control of the Congress has been so entrenched that the Democrats have played mostly defense for well over a decade and it’s hard to envision what the shape of a more proactive Democratic telecom and Internet legislative agenda might be.
But, what’s really, really interesting is that the House leaders on commerce, telecom and Internet matters are exactly the same as they were in 1994. As experienced DC hand Kim McAvoy reports at TV Newsday, it’s just like old times, with John Dingell (D-MI) and Ed Markey (D-MA) in charge of these matters, just like they used to be back before the Republicans took the House. Dingell is expected to resume his old role as Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and Markey will no doubt take back his leadership position on the House Energy and Commerce Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee.
That makes telecom and Internet-related legislative initiatives a new/old ball game. Both Dingell and Markey tilt toward populist, progressive policies and neither is a real fan of the cable industry. But times have changed since Dingell and Markey spearheaded these issues, with the Internet dominating practically every major matter affecting telcos, tech suppliers, cable operators, wireless companies, Hollywood…just about everybody in the entertainment and communications industries.
The new landscape make easy predictions difficult, but here are mine:
Telecom Reform Legislation is Dead: The whole concept of national video franchising is at an end. Pretty much anything in the Stevens bill (which, despite sponsor Ted Stevens’ (R-AK) predictions doesn’t stand a chance of passing in the upcoming lame-duck session) is off the table.
Net Neutrality Dominates the Discussion: It’s weird and unfortunate that net neutrality became a partisan issue over the past two years, but it did, with Republicans fighting off any attempts to impose meaningful net neutrality requirements on cable operators and phone companies and Democrats, particularly Markey, fighting for tough regulations to bar broadband providers from favoring any content or application provider. While Markey and others will likely introduce net neutrality-type bills, most of the activity will likely be limited to jaw-boning the issue — lots of warnings and threats issued against any suspected bad activity by cable or phone companies, and so forth. The low likelihood of a net neutrality bill getting very far is reinforced by the tide of contributions from telcos and cable operators that flowed to Markey, Dingell and other Democrats as it became clear that Republicans would lose the House.
The FCC Will Become Even More Divided: Although the FCC is still Republican controlled, the stand-off over the AT&T-BellSouth merger vote is just one sign that the Commission will have a hard time issuing any but the most mundane decisions. Democratic Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein are having a blast with their new-found Congressional backing (a sign of Copps’ confidence is this op-ed piece in today’s New York Times lambasting the FCC’s policies) and Chairman Kevin Martin is probably toast. As McAvoy points out, the FCC’s current campaign to relax or eliminate media ownership restrictions will probably get the kibosh from Dingell and Markey.
Hollywood’s Intellectual Property Issues Get Even More Attention: Even under a Republican-controlled House, Hollywood fared pretty well. But now, Hollywood stands an even better chance of getting ahead with its agenda to crack-down on all the lifting, mixing, matching and mashing, not to mention piracy, occuring with video on the Internet. In line to become head of the House Judiciary Committee’s Intellectual Property Subcomittee is Howard Berman (D-CA), whose district includes North Hollywood.
Of course, nothing is more unpredictable than politics and these predictions could be turned on their heads twelve months from now. And, as of 10:22 today, the fate of the Senate is still undetermined — if only two more undecided Senate races swing the Democrats’ way, the entire Congress could become Democratic controlled. These easy predictions don’t apply in a Congress that is fully controlled by the Democrats — under this scenario, it’s party time for the Dems and lots and lots of stuff kept under wraps by a bi-partisan Congress will start flying.
Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on November 8, 2006 9:38 AM to IP Democracy