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A VIEW FROM WASHINGTON
by Peter Loge, Milo Public Affairs, Washington DC
The 112th Congress will be good for media consolidation, good for those who oppose government regulation of the Internet, good for copyright, and good for the cab drivers who take FCC staff from
their offices to Capitol Hill and back.
Newton's laws of motion apply to politics as well as to objects - policies in motion (media consolidation, strengthening copyright) tend to remain in motion and policies at rest (the Fairness Doctrine,
community ascertainment) tend to remain at rest. Stopping momentum is hard; putting policy change in motion is even harder.
As long expected, the proposed merger of NBC and Comcast has gone through with some conditions. Most Republicans and many Democrats in the House supported the merger and, with a handful
of vocal exceptions, few Democrats in the Senate were strongly opposed to it. The deal is done and may pave the way for more content providers and distributors to team up.
At the close of 2010 the FCC put some network neutrality rules in place after a bi-partisan deal in the House on the issue fell through. Some tea party activists made opposing network neutrality rules a
campaign issue and a number of Republicans and some Democrats in the House have been vocal in their criticism of the policy. It seems likely that the rules the FCC issued will be challenged legislatively
and that Congress will attempt to lessen the tacit or actual control the FCC has over the Internet. The President supports network neutrality, but has a long list of other issues in which he will invest his
political capital first.
Supporters of strong copyright protection have allies in both chambers of Congress and at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. This is good news for creators of original content, but may not be good
news for documentary film makers and others who may rely on material whose copyright is in question or that is expiring to strengthen their stories.
The new Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Darrell Issa (R-CA) has made it clear that he will hold a number of hearings probing the operations of the FCC and other
federal agencies. This means that FCC staff will spend time preparing for hearings and responding to questions rather than spending time doing other work - the more they're explaining, the less they are doing.
It also likely means that the FCC will likely be more cautious in its actions to avoid having to explain itself to Chairman Issa and his colleagues.
In other words, and as is often the case, that which is happening already will continue to happen - and that which isn't happening now won't happen anytime soon.
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