House To Hear From Former FCC Chairs

The House Communications & Technology Subcommittee has scheduled Jan. 15 for the first hearing in a series of hearings on updating communications laws, and it will tap some voices of experience.

The hearing will feature former FCC chairmen. The committee did not identify them, but the pool of potential candidates is an obvious one.

They include Commissioner Mignon Clyburn (acting), now-Carlyle Group exec Julius Genachowski, National Cable & Telecommunications Association President Michael Powell, Common Cause's Michael Copps (acting), Bill Kennard, Al Sykes, Dennis Patrick, Mark Fowler, and Dick Wiley.

"As our work begins on a #CommActUpdate, there are few better equipped to provide insight and expertise on the Communications Act than former chairmen of the FCC,” said Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.). “I expect the subcommittee will discuss a broad array of issues with the former chairmen as we chart our course to update the law to better fit today's communications marketplace, foster innovation and opportunity, and promote consumer choice, job creation, and economic growth."

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.