Legislation that would renew for five years a law governing transmission of broadcast television signals via satellite services such as DirecTV and EchoStar moved a step closer to enactment Thursday when the Senate Commerce Committee approved its version of a reauthorization bill. The Satellite Home Viewer Act, which sets the copyright royalty fees for "local-into-local" service and the delivery of distant network signals to customers who can't receive over-the-air broadcasts, needs to be renewed before the law expires Dec. 31. Under "local into local," TV signals are redelivered to their respective markets via satellite. The Commerce and Judiciary committees in both the House and Senate have now approved four bills reauthorizing the law. Floor action is the next step. For further information on the Senate Commerce Committee's action, go to www.congressdaily.com and click on "The Latest Markup Reports" (subscription required).
The Senate Commerce Committee backed legislation Thursday intended to eliminate restrictions on the operation of low-power FM stations. The bill (S. 592), which passed on a voice vote, calls for scuttling a requirement that low-power stations be located more then three clicks away on both sides of the FM dial from commercial broadcasters. As a part of the 2000 legislation authorizing low-power FM, Congress imposed the limitation to assuage fears on the part of larger broadcasters that the newly authorized community stations -- which generate signals of less than 100 watts -- would cause interference over the FM airways. For further information on the Senate Commerce Committee's action, go to www.congressdaily.com and click on "The Latest Markup Reports" (subscription required).
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., wants the federal government to follow her state's lead in cutting the energy usage of power-hungry high-definition television sets. The California Energy Commission earlier this week approved a plan to cut the energy consumption of new televisions sold in the state by one-third beginning in 2011 and by one-half starting in 2013.
In a Thursday letter to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Feinstein urged the Energy Department to take a "serious look" at crafting national standards for TVs that are as rigorous as the ones adopted in California. But the Consumer Electronics Association, which represents major TV set manufacturers, wants to pull the plug on both the California requirements and Feinstein's proposal. "It will result in higher prices for consumers, job losses for Californians and lost tax revenue for the state," the CEA said.
President Obama has nominated Walter Isaacson, who headed CNN from 2001-2003, to be the next chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors - an independent agency that oversees non-military international broadcasts by the federal government, including the Voice of America. Isaacson is currently president and chief executive officer of the Aspen Institute, a non-partisan educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C. Among those nominated to other slots on the board are Michael Lynton, chairman and chief executive of Sony Pictures Entertainment.
By law, the Broadcasting Board of Governors must be bipartisan, and members are subject to Senate confirmation. Other nominees announced by the White House include Dana Perino, former President George W. Bush's fourth and final press secretary, who was named to the slot formerly held by now-Sen. Ted Kaufman, D-Del.; Victor Ashe, a former ambassador to Poland and former Republican mayor of Knoxville, Tenn.; Susan McCue, a former top aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and a founding president of poverty-fighting The ONE Campaign; Michael Meehan, a Democratic strategist who has been a senior adviser to a number of U.S. senators, including Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee; Dennis Mulhaupt, founder and managing director of Commonwealth Partners, Inc., which provides philanthropic advice; and S. Enders Wimbush, senior vice president for international programs and policy at the Hudson Institute, a Washington-based think tank.
The Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday approved by voice vote the nomination of Victoria Espinel to be the White House intellectual property enforcement coordinator. She most recently served as the founder and president of Bridging the Innovation Divide, a nonprofit foundation focused on empowering Americans to obtain the full benefit of their creativity. She also has served as a visiting professor at George Mason University Law School, focusing on intellectual and international trade, and has served as an intellectual property adviser to the Senate Judiciary and Finance committees and the House Judiciary and Ways and Means committees. During the Bush administration, Espinel was tapped to serve as the first ever assistant U.S. trade representative for intellectual property and innovation.
The move was praised by intellectual property groups. "This is an encouraging step forward in a process that we are confident will lead to even better performance at the federal level of intellectual property rights enforcement," Copyright Alliance Executive Director Patrick Ross said in a statement. National Music Publishers' Association President David Israelite said Espinel "is an excellent choice for this role, which requires working with agencies across the government to improve efficiency and effectiveness." Her nomination must still be approved by the full Senate.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski sits down with C-SPAN later this week to tape an interview for the network's "Communicators" series, with the segment airing on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. EST. The taping is planned for 3 p.m. Friday at the commission in the main meeting room. C-SPAN is expected to ask about several controversial regulatory matters, including the creation of a national broadband plan to be presented to Congress in February, Genachowski's push to toughen network neutrality rules governing the Internet's openness and the level of his commitment to running a transparent agency. As they discussed the logistics of the interview Wednesday, an FCC spokesman urged a C-SPAN producer not to ask about planned changes to the agency's media ownership rules, insisting that Genachowski is still formulating his positions. Our suggestion to C-SPAN: ask about it anyway. Stay tuned!
The House passed two small business bills by voice vote Wednesday that may spur technological innovation. The first, H.R. 3738, would create a new early-stage investment program and authorize equity investment financing for small businesses. The bill calls for participating financiers to invest at least half of the funds in early-stage small firms. "This proposal is very well targeted toward companies that drive American innovation and are working to help solve some of our nation's greatest challenges," said TechAmerica President Phil Bond. The second small business bill, H.R. 3014, would authorize $10 billion in loans to be guaranteed to small healthcare practices for access to health IT.
Information technology lobbying group TechNet has hired Rey Ramsey as the organization's new president and chief executive officer. Ramsey currently is chief executive officer of One Economy Corp., a global nonprofit that leverages the power of technology to improve the lives of low-income people. He co-founded the group in 2000. One Economy brings unserved and underserved communities into the economic mainstream through facilitating affordable at-home broadband access, producing public-purpose media, and training and employing "Digital Connectors," youth aged 14-21, to enhance their communities' technology capacity, according to the group's Web site.
At TechNet, Ramsey will be based in Washington, D.C. where he will oversee the Silicon Valley organization's day-to-day operations, strategic planning and implementation of its public policy and political agenda. Separately, TechNet also announced that Paul Otellini, president and CEO of Intel, and Eric Schmidt, chairman and CEO of Google, will join the organization's executive committee.
The House Science and Technology Committee approved legislation Wednesday that would reauthorize and expand federal cybersecurity research programs. The bill (H.R. 4061) would require federal agencies to develop, update, and implement a strategic plan for cybersecurity research and development. The bill, which combined two different bills, would require the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop and implement a plan to ensure coordination on the development of international cybersecurity technical standards within the federal government.
"This bill will help to ensure an overall vision for the federal cybersecurity R&D portfolio, will help train the next generation of cybersecurity professionals, will improve cybersecurity technical standards and will strengthen public-private partnerships in cybersecurity," said the bill's sponsor, Rep. Daniel Lipinski, D-Ill., chairman of the Research and Science Education Subcommittee, in a statement.
The fourth annual Internet Governance Forum wrapped up Wednesday in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. Among the major issues that the forum must tackle at its fifth meeting next year is whether to continue the forum, which was created following the United Nation's World Summit on the Information Society in 2005. Sha Zukang, the United Nations undersecretary general for economic and social affairs, sought feedback on whether to continue the forum. After obtaining feedback, the U.N. secretary general will make his recommendations in his annual report to the General Assembly next year on whether to continue the forum.
In a summary of the event from the forum, Sha described the IGF as fostering dialogue by giving voice to a wide range of views and bringing together diverse cultures. Many of the speakers favored continuing the forum, but some would like to see more focus on international public policy issues, increased participation by developing countries, greater transparency, and more focus on the outcomes and the ability to make recommendations on the issues discussed at the forum.
"There is no other forum where governments, civil society groups, and industry can meet and work together on equal footing on the important issues we have been discussing here in Egypt this week," TechAmerica Vice President Liesyl Franz said in a statement. Egyptian Minister of Communications and Information Technology Tarek Kamel said "with opportunities there were rights and also responsibilities, and in tomorrow's cyberspace the IGF should address important issues such as cross-border security, youth experience, multilingual content, and enhanced broadband capacity in developing countries, among others," according to the forum summary.
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