Still hope for the FCC’s smut-free broadband plan?
"Given the promising opportunity afforded by the AWS-3 auction and given that a prominent, minority-owned firm is directly involved in the proceedings, we are troubled by the cumbersome obstacles that this particular auction has faced over the years," wrote Bobby Rush (D-IL) and Adolphus Towns (D-NY); their letter was sent to the FCC's Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps after the cancellation.
Rush and Towns refer to a big chunk of the Advanced Wireless Services 3 zone (2155-2180MHz)—the FCC proposes to sell this license to a bidder who will run a national, free broadband service that filters out porn. The firm in question is M2Z Networks, the concepts' biggest booster. Both representatives are African-Americans and supporters of minority media initiatives.
The Commission planned to resolve this proposal on Thursday, along with about six other items. But shortly before the event, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), next year's chairs of their House Commerce and Senate Commerce committees, wrote a letter urging the FCC to narrow its focus to the DTV transition. "It would be counterproductive for the FCC to consider unrelated items, especially complex and controversial items that the new Congress and new Administration will have an interest in reviewing," they wrote, adding, "We strongly urge you to concentrate the Commission's attention and resources only on matters that require action under the law."
