FCC's Gottheimer To Drive Agency's Public-Private Broadband Initiatives

The Federal Communications Commission has named strategic advisor Josh Gottheimer to be the director of a public-private initiative to drive the FCC's broadband agenda, including adoption, digital literacy, cybersecurity, and public safety.

The announcement came the same day broadband network operators were on the Hill calling for more public-private cooperation on cybersecurity protection.

Gottheimer will continue as an advisor to the chairman, and will get help in the initiative from FCC broadband attorney advisor Jordan Usdan, who will be deputy director of the initiative, which is meant to build on efforts like the digital Textbooks Initiative and Connect to Compete broadband adoption program -- Comcast has been a leader in low-cost broadband adoption efforts and the FCC has built on that to broaden the effort industrywide.

"For nearly two years, Josh Gottheimer has helped focus private and public sector actors on delivering innovative solutions to connect every American with high-speed Internet, drive job creation and empower consumers," FCC chairman Julius Genachowski said in a statement.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.