A White House report to Congress emphasized the importance of broadband stimulus investment. “The Economic Report of the President,” as it’s titled, said one trend “that presents a major opportunity for long-term growth is the rapid advance in telecommunications technology, particularly in fast and widely available wired and wireless broadband networks, and in their capacity to allow mobile devices to take advantage of cloud computing,” it said (http://1.usa.gov/OdLAdJ). “From 2009 to 2012, annual investment in U.S. wireless networks grew more than 40 percent from $21 billion to $30 billion, and the United States now leads the world in the availability of advanced 4G wireless broadband Internet services. This infrastructure is at the center of a vibrant ecosystem that includes smartphone design, mobile app development, and the deployment of these technologies in sectors like business, health care, education, public safety, entertainment, and more.” It pointed to broadband stimulus grants that yielded more than 110,000 miles of infrastructure added or improved as well as high-speed connections made available to 20,000 community anchor institutions. The report emphasized the role of spectrum and called for “new advances in the sharing of spectrum between different users, particularly between government and private users.” It also emphasized the importance of the White House’s ConnectED initiative and attention to patents.

House Democrats praised a report on the effect of broadband stimulus money on small firms, released by GAO Monday (http://1.usa.gov/1i5JHLi). It “confirms the success of the Recovery Act’s broadband programs,” said House Commerce Committee ranking member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., in a statement. The broadband investments “have not just delivered quicker, cheaper, more reliable service, they have opened new economic opportunity for businesses and people,” said Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. The report “confirms that when it comes to closing our digital divide, federal investment in broadband deployment has been pivotal to the success of America’s small businesses,” said House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif. “Affordable broadband access allows small businesses to operate more efficiently, retain a talented workforce, and improve services to their customers.” GAO found many benefits from the federal stimulus funding for broadband, though noted higher speeds in urban areas they surveyed compared with rural. “In 9 of the 14 communities where GAO collected information on broadband speeds and prices, federally funded or municipal networks offered higher top speeds than other networks in the same community and networks in nearby communities,” GAO said. “Prices charged by federally funded and municipal networks were slightly lower than the comparison networks’ prices for similar speeds. Prices for lower to mid-range speed tiers available from federally funded and municipal networks in nonurban areas also compared favorably to prices in urban areas in the same state."

A hearing on Section 512 of Title 17 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by the House Intellectual Property Subcommittee has been rescheduled for Thursday at 2141 Rayburn at 9:30 a.m., according to the committee’s website (http://1.usa.gov/1niubgx).

Two senators strongly urged the U.S. Transportation Department to ban in-flight cellphone conversation on commercial flights, in a letter Thursday to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “Adding the burden of listening to a cacophony of personal conversations while confined to a 17-inch seat strikes us as unnecessary,” said Sens. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., lamenting the “hostile atmosphere” they believe would result (http://1.usa.gov/P9HNiS). “A clear prohibition of phone calls by the [Federal Aviation Administration] will reduce the likelihood that crew will be forced to place themselves in harm’s way to disrupt physical or verbal altercations between passengers.” They introduced legislation together late last year to forbid such in-flight cellphone conversation. “I'm glad the Department of Transportation is thinking about putting the brakes on a bad idea before it takes flight,” Alexander said in a statement. “With two million passengers hurtling through the air each day, the Transportation Security Administration would have to hire three times as many air marshals to deal with fistfights."

The Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization draft earned tentative support from satellite companies and broadcasters after its release late Thursday (CD March 7 p7). House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., released the draft, rumors about the contents of which had worried broadcasters in the days leading up to its release (CD Feb 28 p1). Dish and DirecTV issued a joint statement calling the draft “an important first step” and pointed to how it “addresses one of the most egregious forms of retransmission consent abuse -- joint negotiating agreements among broadcasters.” NAB is “extremely encouraged” and said it’s a draft bill NAB “is pleased to support,” despite hopes for a clean reauthorization bill, said President Gordon Smith. “NAB appreciates lawmakers’ recognition that the FCC should look at broadcaster sharing agreements in the context of a holistic review of media ownership rules before taking any action on the issue.” The draft unexpectedly included language limiting FCC action on sharing agreements until it completed its quadrennial review -- a move that flew in the race of FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s intentions also announced Thursday. Democrats had widely praised Wheeler for his announcement. Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., said she is glad Wheeler shares her view “that our retransmission consent regime is broken and in need of reform” and praised his proposal. House Commerce Committee ranking member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., welcomed the FCC decision and “strongly” backs the “proposal to bring broadcast television’s attribution rules for Joint Services Agreements in line with [those for] broadcast radio,” he said in a statement. “I am also pleased with the Chairman’s plan to examine shared services agreements. While there are many instances where broadcasters sharing resources is appropriate, such sharing arrangements should not be used to circumvent the FCC’s ownership rules and undermine localism, competition and diversity over the public airwaves.” Waxman praised the rules as striking “a good balance.” Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., favorably praised the FCC announcement for recognizing what he sees as “misuse of joint sales agreements and shared services agreements by broadcasters” and will consider further steps the FCC and Congress can take. Democrats have not yet commented on the STELA draft, despite inquiries.

Net neutrality legislation in the House has begun slowly picking up supporters, for both partisan bills introduced earlier this year. The Democrats’ Open Internet Preservation Act racked up 31 co-sponsors, most recently Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., on Thursday. HR-3982 proposes to restore the FCC net neutrality rules that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated in January. Meanwhile, the Republicans’ Internet Freedom Act is up to 34 co-sponsors, with five Republicans signing on Thursday. HR-4070 would void the FCC net neutrality order the court vacated and prevent the agency from reinstating any such regulations. Neither bill has any support from the opposite party. Given this split, lobbyists have told us not to expect any net neutrality measure to pass into law (CD Feb 3 p1).

The Senate Commerce Committee said Friday it is again postponing an executive session, set for Wednesday, in which it was expected to mark up the Transparency in Assertion of Patents Act (S-2049) and seven other bills. The committee had previously scheduled the markup for March 5 (CD March 3 p19).

Use the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act reauthorization process to revamp cable law, wrote Free State Foundation Scholar Seth Cooper in a blog post Thursday (http://bit.ly/1fJXbNr). “STELA reauthorization legislation constitutes one plausible vehicle to clean out outdated basic tier cable regulations,” Cooper said, slamming basic tier and must-buy regulation. “Congress should keep an open mind about using STELA as a route to regulatory reform.” Cooper disputed the pushes from broadcasters and certain members of Congress to keep STELA reauthorization clean: “Prior STELA reauthorization legislation included a variety of provisions touching on video services. For example, the 2010 bill reauthorizing STELA included directives to the Copyright Office regarding filing fees, audits, and reports. It likewise permitted carriage of low-power broadcast TV stations throughout local markets and modified cable statutory licenses to address carriage of multicast broadcast TV streams.” Cooper praised two video bills that Free State has supported: The Next Generation Television Marketplace Act (HR-3720) of Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., and the Consumer Choice in Video Devices Act (HR-3196) of Subcommittee Vice Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, and points to certain of their provisions as ideal for STELA. The latest STELA draft, in fact, has been seen to incorporate the video priorities of both Latta and Scalise. The subcommittee is believed to have removed, as of Wednesday, a provision that would have allowed cable operators to take broadcast stations off the basic tier, due to Republican member and broadcaster opposition (CD March 6 p1). Congress should keep an “open mind,” Cooper recommended.

The White House’s proposed budget for fiscal-year 2015 would include $375.38 million for the FCC and include provisions changing the USF program, create resources for “mission-critical systems to ensure that they are operational during a Continuity of Operations (COOP) event,” make a Do-Not-Call registry for phone numbers that public safety answering points use, get new equipment for the Enforcement Bureau and back information technology upgrades for the whole FCC, according to a document posted by the FCC (http://fcc.us/1hNuRs2). It would ask for spectrum license user fees, which NAB and CTIA object to. “The Administration proposes to direct that the FCC use either auction or fee authority to repurpose spectrum frequencies between 1675-1680 megahertz for wireless broadband use by 2017, subject to sharing arrangements with Federal weather satellites,” the budget document said. “Currently, the spectrum is being used for radiosondes (weather balloons). A new weather satellite that is scheduled for launch in 2015 will operate in adjacent frequencies. If this proposal is enacted, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would move the radiosondes to another frequency, allowing the spectrum to be repurposed for commercial use with limited protection zones for the remaining weather satellite downlinks.” The spectrum probably wouldn’t be repurposed for commercial use without this proposal, which would raise $230 million over 10 years, the budget said. The budget would include $1 million for upgrading FCC Form 477, to “drive an evolution of the national broadband map to further improve its utility as a key resource of broadband deployment for consumers, policymakers, researchers, economists, and others,” it said. The FCC would get $10.88 million to revamp USF. “More resources are required to continue the Commission’s work to modernize USF, implement reforms, increase its oversight of the newly-reformed programs and provide for critical enforcement of the rules,” the budget said. “This request will support funding for additional staff including, attorneys, economists, IT specialists, program managers, and technologists.” Congress must approve a budget.

A House Democrat praised House passage of a bill that includes a provision she backed on data centers, part of the Energy Efficiency Improvement Act of 2014. Data “must be stored and processed at vast data centers which are highly energy inefficient, wasting money and precious energy resources,” said Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., in a statement Wednesday. She said the legislation “will save the federal government energy and money by requiring the use of energy-efficient and energy-saving technologies, specifically in federal data centers.”