No "Fairness Doctrine for the Internet"

On June 2, Free State Foundation President Randolph May issued the following tweet:

Perhaps it was inevitable that advocates of Internet regulation would go from advocating "net neutrality" to public utility regulation to "fairness doctrine for the Internet" a la @RoKhanna below. This is misguided and would violate the #FirstAmendment. @AjitPaiFCC @mikeofcc pic.twitter.com/W90TtcoHNm

— Free State Foundation (@FSFthinktank) June 2, 2020

For more, see Mr. May's follow-up Perspectives from FSF Scholars paper published today titled "Don't Regulate the Internet as a Public Utility!" Also check out John Eggerton's brief writeup at Multichannel News.

T-Mobile's Voluntary Payments Speed Wireless Broadband Deployment

Broadcasting & Cable's John Eggerton reports that T-Mobile has made a voluntary commitment to pay for affected low-power stations to move to temporary channels in order to clear broadcast spectrum as quickly and equitably as possible following the incentive auction. While it is true that providing compensation to the low-power stations will help expedite clearing the spectrum that T-Mobile secured in the 600 MHz auction, it is also true that T-Mobile is under no obligation to make the payments to which it has volunteered. Instead, it could look to Congress or elsewhere for the additional relocation funds.

T-Mobile's voluntary commitment should help put it in a position to start expanding its advanced wireless network sooner than otherwise might be possible. That's not just good for T-Mobile, it's good for all Americans as the demand for high-speed wireless services increases exponentially.

And note that T-Mobile's new commitment is on top of the one made to cover certain costs incurred by public TV stations in relocating as a result of the 600 MHz auction. I wrote about that commitment in this post, "T-Mobile-PBS Agreement Is a Win-Win."

Midnight Rules Relief Act

The House of Representatives just passed the Midnight Rules Relief Act. See Broadcasting & Cable's John Eggerton's report here.

This is an excerpt from John's story:

"But the House on Thursday passed (240 to 179) a bill—H.R. 5982, the Midnight Rules Relief Act—to backstop those warnings to all federal agencies about 11th-hour votes, on or off a public meeting. The bill can't get a Senate vote until at least Nov. 28 since the Senate is not holding any business sessions until that date given the Thanksgiving holiday next week.

The bill 'amends the Congressional Review Act to allow Congress to consider a joint resolution to disapprove multiple regulations that federal agencies have submitted for congressional review within the last 60 legislative days of a session of Congress during the final year of a President's term. Congress may disapprove a group of such regulations together (i.e., 'en bloc') instead of the current procedure of considering only one regulation at a time.'"

The bill is unlikely to get through the Senate, but it is an important indication of the House of Representatives' seriousness regarding regulatory reform.