The House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet is hosting all five FCC Commissioners today (and preventing their appearance at an NAB breakfast). The good news is that the issue is not of particular interest to broadcasters. It’s called "Oversight of the Federal Communications Commission – the 700 MHz auction." It involves spectrum territory that television broadcasters once called home, but are ceding back to the government as a major part of the DTV conversion. The Senate Commerce Committee will convene a week later, on 4/22/08, to "Explore the Future of the Internet." It’s an interesting topic in that the committee’s Ranking Member, Ted Stevens (R-AK), just asked FCC Chairman Kevin Martin to ignore the issue, but apparently has been unable to get his own committee to give it a pass. No word yet on witnesses for the internet session.
