MEDIA ADVISORY: FSF's Randolph May Congratulates Brendan Carr as the Next FCC Chairman

Free State Foundation President Randolph May issued the following statement regarding President-elect Trump's intention to appoint Brendan Carr as FCC Chairman:

I congratulate Brendan Carr as President-elect Trump's choice to be the FCC's next chairman. Given his long experience at the FCC, first as a staffer and then as a commissioner, and his acknowledged expertise regarding communications law and policy, Commissioner Carr is very well-qualified to undertake his new responsibilities leading the agency come January 20.

 

There is much work that still needs to be done to reform communications policies so that they reflect digital age technological and marketplace realities. Enhancing consumer welfare and increasing consumer choice, along with closing remaining digital divides, can be accomplished in free market-oriented ways that minimize unnecessary costs, reduce regulatory burdens, and avoid wasteful spending. And restoring a culture of free speech consistent with the First Amendment is an important objective.

 

I look forward to Brendan Carr getting to work as FCC Chairman. 

Webinar Panel Weighs FCC's Proposed AI Political Ad Regulation

On October 7, Free State Foundation President Randolph May moderated a webinar, "The FCC's Proposal to Regulate Political Ads Using Artificial Intelligence." Video of the webinar is now available online. The Federalist Society-hosted webinar featured a panel discussion on the Commission's proposed rulemaking that would require radio and TV broadcasters as well as cable and direct broadcast satellite (DBS) operators to include a disclaimer on all political candidate and political issue ads that contain content generated using artificial intelligence (AI). The proposed rulemaking also would require notice filings in online political files regarding ad usage of AI, and impose obligations on broadcasters (and cable and DBS operators) to act when informed by "credible third parties" that the ads being transmitted contain AI-generate content. 

The FCC's novel regulation of political ads with AI-generated content raises important questions about the scope of the agency's authority and the policy merits of the proposal. Those topics are ably tackled by the webinar panel, consisting of FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, Public Knowledge President Christopher Lewis, as well as Prof. Bradley Smith, a former FEC Chairman. To learn more, check out the webinar video. 

On September 19, the Free State Foundation filed initial comments in the FCC's novel AI political ad regulation proceeding. And FSF filed reply comments on October 7. text

House Commerce, Commissioner Carr Target BEAD Program

In a June 2024 Perspectives from FSF Scholars, I focused a spotlight on insidious efforts by both the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and certain state-level bureaucracies to inject extraneous policy objectives like rate regulation and a fiber-at-any-cost bias – what I termed "devilish details" – into Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program funding decisions. Recent news from the Hill and the FCC demonstrate that others share my concerns.

In a letter dated July 9, 2024, to NTIA Administrator Alan Davidson, House Energy and Commerce Committee Republican leaders wrote that "it appears that the NTIA may be evaluating initial proposals counter to Congressional intent and in violation of the law." And in written testimony prepared for a congressional hearing held that same day, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr expressed his broad view that the BEAD Program "is going off the rails."

Noting the BEAD Program's unprecedented exemption from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requirements, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA), Subcommittee on Communications and Technology Chair Bob Latta (OH), and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chair Morgan Griffith (VA) in their letter demanded greater visibility into why only 16 of the 56 initial proposals submitted by states and territories prior to year-end 2023 had been approved as of July 9, 2024. (The following day that total grew to 17 with the approval of Maryland's submission.)

In particular, the authors pointed to "anecdotal evidence" – the best available under the circumstances – indicating that NTIA "is directing [states] to set rates and conditioning approval of initial proposals on doing so." By way of example, they highlighted an objection by the Virginia Office of Broadband to NTIA's insistence upon "an exact price or formula" for its low-cost service option before its initial proposal would be approved, an impasse which I addressed here.

Chair McMorris Rodgers and Subcommittee Chairs Latta and Griffith therefore requested copies of "all communications between [NTIA] and state broadband offices as it relates to pending [BEAD Program] Initial Proposals" no later than July 23, 2024. They also sought information regarding "[t]he factors or conditions that are preventing state entities from having their initial proposals accepted," including "all instances where a state's initial proposal was not accepted … due in part to the BEAD's low-cost option requirement pricing as a factor in the decision."

The concerns of Commissioner Carr, meanwhile, include but are in no way constrained to rate regulation alone. Labeling the $42.45 billion BEAD program "the slowest moving federal broadband deployment program in recent history" – after nearly 1,000 days, "not one person has been connected to the Internet with those dollars" – he pointed the finger at the convoluted, multistep design of the program and reminded the Subcommittee that this "failure to launch is not only predictable, it was predicted" by various members of Congress.

(For the record, it also was predicted by numerous Free State Foundation scholars: member of the Free State Foundation's Board of Academic Advisors Michelle P. Connolly, Ph.D., FSF President Randolph J. May, FSF Director of Policy Studies and Senior Fellow Seth L. Cooper, and me.)

Laying the blame at the feet of the Biden Administration for "layering on red tape and advancing a wish list of progressive goals," Commissioner Carr faulted specific elements of the BEAD Program as implemented – but not found in the text of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that lead to its creation – that "pursue a climate change agenda, [diversity, equity, and inclusion] requirements, technology biases, price controls, preferences for government-run networks, and rules that will undoubtedly lead to wasteful overbuilding."

Consequently, Commissioner Carr predicted that, at the end of the day and after all the money is gone, households, particularly rural households, will remain unserved "absent major reforms" that reign in wasteful spending on unrelated Biden Administration priorities and remove unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles.

TMT With Mike O'Rielly - Ep 2: BEAD & Broadband Funding

Episode 2 of the videocast TMT With Mike O'Rielly was released on April 22. It features a discussion between former FCC Commissioner O'Rielly and current Commissioner Brendan Carr. Be sure to check out their discussion of the BEAD Program and broadband subsidies: 

The videocast is hosted by the Free State Foundation.

Divided FCC Imposes New Pricing Requirements on Legacy Video Providers

At its Open Meeting on Thursday, the FCC voted along party lines to require facilities-based video distributors – that is, cable and direct broadcast satellite (DBS) providers, but not upstart competitors that stream their content over the public Internet – to present an "all-in" price on their customer bills and in advertising materials. Republican Commissioners Brendan Carr and Nathan Simington issued Dissenting Statements exposing the agency's general lack of statutory authority to impose such obligations.

The Commission's pending proceeding exclusively targeting cable and DBS billing practices, in which Free State Foundation President Randolph J. May and I filed comments and reply comments, similarly singles out traditional multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) for additional regulatory burdens wholly lacking statutory authority even as they struggle to compete with streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney Plus, among many others.

Commissioner Simington in his Dissenting Statement emphasizes this concern, writing that:

[W]e are yet again adding additional regulatory burden and complexity on an industry that is shedding customers by the millions. Traditional linear video is on the way out, but we don't have to shoo them away like the last guest who hasn't gotten the hint that the party's over. For every mote of regulatory complexity we add to legacy providers, unregulated online video providers become more nimble by comparison.

Commissioner Simington also finds fault with each source of statutory authority relied upon by the majority in the as-yet-unreleased Order. Notably, he calls out the fact that (1) the FCC's limited power pursuant to Section 632 to impose customer service requirements not only presupposes the existence of a provider-customer relationship (and thus does not extend to promotional materials targeting potential customers) but also is constrained heavily by the Television Viewer Protection Act of 2019, and (2) Section 335(a) – incidentally, the same DBS-specific provision relied upon in the billing practices NPRM referenced above – "relates essentially to the provision of political programming."

In his Dissenting Statement, Commissioner Carr similarly questions the agency's statutory authority to act, conceding that "[o]nly in the case of cable billing does that authority arguably exist." And where Commissioner Simington characterized the majority's misguided reliance upon Section 4(i) ancillary authority as "[t]he authority of the gunslinger," Comissioner Carr describes it as a "Hail Mary [that] falls incomplete."

Three Weeks from Today! FSF's Premier Policy Conference - Register Now!

REGISTER NOW!

The Free State Foundation will hold its Sixteenth Annual Policy Conference on March 12, 2024, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. This annual conference is widely acknowledged to be one of the nation's premier law and policy events.

 

As always, a truly outstanding lineup of senior officials and prominent experts from the FCC, other government agencies, industry, academia, and think tanks will discuss and debate the most important communications and Internet policy issues of the day. Topics will include net neutrality, broadband subsidies, ACP extension, USF reform, spectrum reform, the First Amendment and free speech, and more!

 

Confirmed Speakers Include:

 

Robert Branson – President and CEO, Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC)

 

Brendan Carr – Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission

 

Michelle Connolly - Professor of the Practice, Economics Department, Duke University, and member of the Board of Academic Advisors of the Free State Foundation

 

Seth Cooper – Director of Policy Studies and Senior Fellow, Free State Foundation

 

David Chorzempa - Vice President & Associate General Counsel, AT&T

 

Mignon Clyburn - Former Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission, and Principal, MLC Strategies, LLC

 

David Don - Senior Vice President, Public Policy, Comcast Corporation

 

Scott Harris – Senior Spectrum Advisor, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)

 

Blair Levin – Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Brookings Metro, and Policy Analyst, New Street Research

 

Andrew Long – Senior Fellow, Free State Foundation

 

Randolph May – President, Free State Foundation

 

Michael O’Rielly – Former Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission, and Adjunct Senior Fellow, Free State Foundation

 

Jeffrey Rosen - Former Acting Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General of the United States, and former General Counsel and Senior Policy Advisor at the White House Office of Management and Budget 

 

Nathan Simington – Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission

 

Registration is complimentary, including continental breakfast and lunch. But space is always limited. You must register to attend!

Register Now!

 

#FSFConf16

FCC Commissioners Carr and Simington Keynoters at #FSFConf16 - March 12

FREE STATE FOUNDATION Sixteenth Annual Policy Conference

REGISTER NOW! Keynote Speakers Include:   FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington WHAT: FSF's Sixteenth Annual Policy Conference   WHERE: National Press Club, Washington, DC   WHEN: March 12, 2024 – 9:00 AM - 2:30 PM   The Free State Foundation will hold its Sixteenth Annual Policy Conference on March 12, 2024, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. This annual conference is widely acknowledged to be one of the nation's premier law and policy events.   As always, a truly outstanding lineup of senior officials and prominent experts from the FCC, other government agencies, industry, academia, and think tanks will discuss and debate the most important communications and Internet policy issues of the day. Topics will include net neutrality, broadband subsidies, ACP extension, USF reform, spectrum reform, the First Amendment and free speech, and more!   Confirmed Speakers Include:   Robert Branson – President and CEO, Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC)   Brendan Carr – Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission   Michelle Connolly - Professor of the Practice, Economics Department, Duke University, and member of the Board of Academic Advisors of the Free State Foundation   Seth Cooper – Director of Policy Studies and Senior Fellow, Free State Foundation   David Don - Senior Vice President, Public Policy, Comcast Corporation   Scott Harris – Senior Spectrum Advisor, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)   Blair Levin – Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Brookings Metro, and Policy Analyst, New Street Research   Andrew Long – Senior Fellow, Free State Foundation   Randolph May – President, Free State Foundation   Michael O’Rielly – Former Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission, and Adjunct Senior Fellow, Free State Foundation   Jeffrey Rosen - Former Acting Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General of the United States, and former General Counsel and Senior Policy Advisor at the White House Office of Management and Budget    Nathan Simington – Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission   Registration is complimentary, including continental breakfast and lunch. But space is always limited. You must register to attend!   Register Now!   #FSFConf16

Commissioner Carr to Congress: Renew FCC's Auction Authority

As reported by Christopher Cole in Law360 (subscription required), Commissioner Brendan Carr seized the moment at the FCC's August Open Meeting and urged Congress to renew the agency's spectrum auction authority.

In a recent post to the Free State Foundation's blog, I once again noted the importance of the FCC's auction authority, which was allowed to lapse in March of this year. (I first addressed this topic in "Extending FCC Spectrum Auction Authority Is Essential to the 5G Race," a February 2023 Perspectives from FSF Scholars.)

Before voting to approve a Notice of Inquiry regarding non-federal spectrum usage, Commissioner Carr made a similar plea:

I'd be remiss if I didn't note today, while we have a number of some of the top congressional staffers in the room, to reiterate the call for Congress to reauthorize the FCC's spectrum auction authority. So I know it's August recess, Congress isn't in session, but if, over the August recess, you happen to find some good spectrum auction authority somewhere, we would be happy to put it to good use.

Chairwoman Rosenworcel responded by thanking him for "the shameless plug."

To view this interaction, please click here.

Videos from FSF's Fifteenth Annual Policy Conference Now Available!

 All the Videos from #FSFConf15 Are Released!

Welcome and Introduction by Randolph May, President, The Free State Foundation, and the Opening Keynote Address by Congressman Bob Latta, 

Chairman, House Communications and Technology Subcommittee

Videos of Senator Ted Cruz, Ranking Member of the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and Senator John Thune, Ranking Member, Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Media, and Broadband

Keynote Address – Scott Blake Harris, Senior Spectrum Advisor, National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)

"What's Been Bugging Me Lately!"

 

Moderator: Randolph May – President, The Free State Foundation

 

Panelists:

 

Enrique Armijo – Professor of Law, Elon University School of Law and Member of FSF's Board of Academic Advisors; Michelle Connolly – Professor of the Practice of Economics, Duke University and Member of FSF's Board of Academic Advisors; and Christopher Yoo – Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and Member of FSF's Board of Academic Advisors

"Hot (and Important) Topics in Communications Policy"

 

Moderators: Seth Cooper – FSF Director of Communications Policy Studies and Senior Fellow and Andrew Long – FSF Senior Fellow

 

Panelists:

 

Rick Chessen – Senior Vice President, Law & Regulatory Policy, NCTA; Chris Lewis – President and CEO, Public Knowledge; Clint Odom – Vice President of Strategic Alliances & External Affairs, T-Mobile; Michael O'Rielly – Former Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission

Keynote Conversation – "Views from the Top of the FCC"

 

Moderator: Randolph May – President, The Free State Foundation

Brendan Carr – Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission, and Nathan Simington – Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission

FSF's Annual Can't Miss Policy Conference on March 28! Space Is Limited!

REGISTER NOW HERE! Broadband Deployment and Adoption; Net Neutrality and Internet Freedom; Spectrum Policy and 5G; Privacy Regulation and Data Security; The FCC, NTIA, and FTC; Cancel Culture and Constitutional Culture...and more!  Keynote Speakers Include:   FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr

Scott Blake Harris Senior Spectrum Advisor, NTIA FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington

FTC Commissioner Christine Wilson

WHAT: FSF's Fifteenth Annual Policy Conference   WHERE: National Press Club, Washington, DC   WHEN: Tuesday, March 28, 2023 – 9:00 AM - 2:30 PM   The Free State Foundation will hold its Fifteenth Annual Policy Conference on Tuesday, March 28, 2023, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. This annual conference is widely acknowledged to be one of the nation's premier law and policy events.   As in previous years, a truly outstanding lineup of senior officials and prominent experts from the FCC, FTC, other government agencies, industry, academia, and think tanks will discuss and debate the most important "hot button" communications and Internet policy issues of the day. These include regulations and policies relating to broadband deployment and adoption, spectrum, privacy protections, as well as competition policy, Cancel Culture, and other issues. Confirmed speakers include:   Enrique Armijo – Professor of Law, Elon University School of Law Brendan Carr – Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission Rick Chessen – Senior Vice President, Law & Regulatory Policy, NCTA - The Internet & Television Association Michelle Connolly – Professor of the Practice, Duke University Kathleen Grillo – Senior Vice President of Policy and Government Affairs, Verizon Scott Blake Harris – Senior Spectrum Advisor, National Telecommunications and Information Administration Chris Lewis – President and CEO, Public Knowledge Michael O'Rielly – Former Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission Nathan Simington – Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission  Christine Wilson – Commissioner, Federal Trade Commission  Christopher Yoo – Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School REGISTRATION IS COMPLIMENTARY, INCLUDING CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST AND LUNCH.   BUT YOU MUST REGISTER TO ATTEND. REGISTER NOW HERE!   #FSFConf15

Carr, Simington, and Wilson Among Keynoters at #FSFConf15 on March 28!

Fifteenth Annual Policy Conference

REGISTER NOW HERE! Keynote Speakers Include:   FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr

FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington

FTC Commissioner Christine Wilson

WHAT: FSF's Fifteenth Annual Policy Conference   WHERE: National Press Club, Washington, DC   WHEN: Tuesday, March 28, 2023 – 9:00 AM - 2:30 PM   The Free State Foundation will hold its Fifteenth Annual Policy Conference on Tuesday, March 28, 2023, at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. This annual conference is widely acknowledged to be one of the nation's premier law and policy events.   As in previous years, a truly outstanding lineup of senior officials and prominent experts from the FCC, FTC, other government agencies, industry, academia, and think tanks will discuss and debate the most important communications and Internet policy issues of the day, as well as competition policy and other issues.    REGISTRATION IS COMPLIMENTARY, INCLUDING CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST AND LUNCH.   BUT YOU MUST REGISTER TO ATTEND. REGISTER NOW HERE!   #FSFConf15