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The FCC Should Condition the Giveaway of $70 Billion of the Public's Airwaves on New Public Interest Obligations Digital
TV Main Page Statement of Media Access Project Executive Director Gigi B. Sohn April 2, 1997Washington -- As early as tomorrow, the FCC will award up to 70 billion dollars worth of the public's airwaves to the nation's television broadcasters. For free. This is, indeed, one of the largest federal giveaways of the century. Broadcasters will use this spectrum to start a second "digital" service. This will permit them to run multichannel programming and revenue-generating broadcast and non- broadcast subscription services. I'm not happy that Congress has ordered this result, but it's a done deal. Unfortunately, what is as yet unresolved is whether the FCC will condition the gift of this extra spectrum on broadcasters' acceptance of new and specific public interest obligations. President Clinton has created a special advisory committee for the purpose of recommending specific public interest obligations for digital broadcasters. However, some FCC Commissioners have thus far refused even to agree on the principle that the free grant of billions of dollars of spectrum requires some dividend of public service. If the FCC does not adopt this principle, the advisory committee's work will be for naught. The Commission is legally bound to ensure that broadcasters compensate the public for the exclusive right to use this new spectrum. That has been part of the law since 1934, and it was reenacted last year in the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The deal that broadcasters struck with the American people over 60 years ago remains valid today - in exchange for free use of a scarce public resource, broadcasters must serve as trustees for the public, by providing programming that meets community needs. Broadcasters are about to be given more free spectrum that will provide new opportunities to engage in multiple and pay services. Therefore, their public interest obligations must expand with those opportunities. And, these new obligations should reflect the fact that new digital technologies will facilitate innovative public service. MAP has recommended that these new obligations include:
Tuesday's Supreme Court decision in Turner Broadcasting v. FCC strengthens the FCC's power to require new public interest obligations. As Justice Kennedy wrote for the majority: Broadcast television is an important source of information to many Americans. Though it is but one of many means of communication, by tradition and use for decades now, it has been an essential part of the national discourse on subjects across the whole broad spectrum of speech, thought and expression. Broadcasters told the Supreme Court that they are special; the Court agreed. But if broad- casters want special benefits like the must carry protections upheld in Turner, they must pay with public service. The report Common Cause released today tells the sordid history of how the broadcast lobby bought influence on their way to a $70 billion boondoggle. The FCC is about to write the next chapter. I'd like to see this title: "FCC Ensures Public Benefits in the Digital Age." Gigi B. Sohn is Executive Director of the Media Access Project. MAP is a nonprofit, public interest telecommunications law firm that represents the public's First Amendment rights before the FCC and the Courts |
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