Broadcasters won’t have Ed Markey (D-MA) breathing down their necks in quite the same way any more, but Rich Boucher (D-VA) is ready to take over those duties. Markey will be handing over his Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet chair to Boucher in exchange for Boucher’s Subcommittee on Energy and Environment. Both have pledged to work together on the most immediate concern of the parent Energy and Commerce Committee, the fast approaching DTV deadline.
"NAB has enormous respect for both Chairman Markey and Boucher, and we wish them great success in their new roles,” commented NAB EVP Dennis Wharton. “We look forward to working with both Mr. Boucher and Mr. Markey in the new Congress, and in continuing to make the case that the news, entertainment and emergency lifeline services provided by free and local broadcasting are worth preserving and strengthening."
RBR observation: Boucher may well be a good fit with the incoming Obama administration, in that his only stated communications concern other than DTV in the announcement of the switch was in the broadband arena. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing – sometimes its best if nobody in Washington is paying any attention to your industry.
