By John Eggerton, Multichannel News, 9-23-20
The House this week passed four communications-related bills including ones blocking Congress’ own mandate to auction T-Band spectrum and one that would require the FCC to look at market entry barriers to diverse media ownership.
H.R. 5567, the Measuring the Economics Driving Investments and Access for Diversity Act of 2020 (or “MEDIA Diversity Act for short) was introduced by Reps. Billy Long (R-Mo.) and Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Tex.)….
H.R. 451, the Don’t Break Up the T-Band Act of 2019, was introduced by Reps. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), Al Green (D-Tex.) and Peter King (R-N.Y.)….
H.R. 5918 directs the FCC to investigate and issue reports after activation of the FCC’s Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) and to make improvements to network outage reporting and ensuring they are reported to 911 centers. It was introduced by Reps. Doris Matsui, Anna Eshoo, Mike Thompson, and Jared Huffman (all D-Calif.)….
S. 2661, the “National Suicide Hotline Designation Act,” is companion legislation to the House bill that designates the FCC’s choice of 988 as the suicide hotline number and allows states to pay for the hotline with a fee…. » Read More