WASHINGTON—Following a year where a record number of TV blackouts occurred due to retransmission disputes, the U.S. House of Representatives have passed the Television Viewer Protection Act, HR 5035, that aims to ensure cable and satellite TV customers have access to broadcast network programming, in part with a mandate for good faith negotiations between broadcasters and MVPDs.

The bill, which was co-sponsored by House Communications Subcommittee Chair Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) and House Energy & Commerce Committee ranking member Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) in a bipartisan effort, passed on suspension, a procedure that is typically reserved for noncontroversial items.

In addition to making good faith negotiations required—something required in the STELAR Act—TVPA provides consumers with transparency regarding their fees on cable and satellite bills, as well as gives MVPD buying groups the same good faith negotiation requirements.

One thing that this bill is not is a renewal of the STELAR Act, which is currently still set to expire at the end of the year and deals with compulsory digital signal-licenses.

“The Television Viewer Protection Act will benefit millions of Americans who subscribe to cable or satellite TV service,” said Doyle.

TVPA will now make its way to the Senate, where reports are that it will pass, with Doyle reportedly hoping to have the bill in front of President Donald Trump’s before the end of the year.

WASHINGTON—As the clock ticks down to the end of the year when the current STELAR Act would expire, Congress has drafted another proposal related to the license, this time including making permanent the good faith requirement for retransmission negotiations.

The bill, The Television Viewer Protection Act, comes from House Energy & Commerce Communications Subcommittee chairman Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) and ranking member Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.). The bill does not reauthorize the compulsory distant signal license—something that Doyle says the House Judiciary Committee will handle.

The Judiciary did come up with its own proposal for a bill that would permanently extend the STELAR license but narrow its reach.

More information on Doyle and Walden’s bill is available on TVT’s sister publication B&C.

As the bill is now being submitted to the full House Energy & Commerce committee, the NAB has come out and given its approval to the provision regarding good faith negotiations.

“NAB applauds a key provision in the House Commerce Committee-passed STELAR bill today that makes permanent legislation requiring broadcasters and pay TV companies to conduct carriage negotiations in ‘good faith,’” said Gordon Smith, NAB president and CEO. “While we continue to question the need for STELAR legislation, a ‘permanent good faith’ requirement is far preferable to the current five-year STELAR renewal cycle that has incentivized pay-TV companies to force broadcast TV programming disruptions that harm consumers.”

WASHINGTON—Perhaps not surprising following the announcement of a bipartisan bill last week that would mandate a public auction led by the FCC of the C-band spectrum to make way for 5G services, but the key takeaway from the C-band hearing in Congress on Tuesday, Oct. 29, was the support for that plan of action.

The hearing, hosted by the House Communications Subcommittee, took a close look at the Clearing Broad Airwaves for New Deployment (C-BAND) Act introduced by Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) and others. It also examined the proposal from the C-Band Alliance that was released on Monday, which would see spectrum cleared through a private auction.

Doyle, who presided over the hearing, called CBA’s proposal “deeply disturbing,” explaining that in a private auction the funds from selling the spectrum would go to CBA’s member companies rather than the U.S. Treasury, which is preferred by most legislators to help pay for broadband deployment and next-gen 911. He also called the C-band spectrum a “precious national resource.”

Other witnesses at the hearing supported Doyle and the preference for a public auction. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) said that he did not believe that a CBA-led auction would deploy 5G any faster, and that an FCC-led auction would be fairer and more transparent. Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio), who also helped write the C-BAND Act, reaffirmed his support of a public auction.

Witnesses from outside of Congress also voiced their support for a public auction, including representatives from ACA Connects, Citizens Against Government Waste and Public Knowledge.

James Frownfelter, chairman of ABS, was one of the only witnesses to support a CBA-led auction, saying the FCC reclaiming and auctioning satellite spectrum in a public auction would be like satellite operators having their spectrum “largely confiscated without compensation.” He also said that about 25% of any proceeds from a CBA-led auction would be directed to the Treasury.

A witness for Cisco did not definitively take a side, but did point out that government-led spectrum transitions have been slow and difficult in the past, and that a private-led auction would be a carrot rather than a stick for band operators.

Claude Aiken, president of WISPA, which represents fixed wireless service providers, used his testimony to remind people that there were additional options beyond an auction, specifically a proposal by the Broadband Access Coalition that uses an auction and sharing spectrum to open up C-band.

The FCC is tasked with determining its plan for the C-band spectrum by the end of this year.

For a full roundup of Tuesday’s testimony, read Multichannel News’story.

WASHINGTON—Members of Congress are sharing their thoughts on how they would like to see the C-band spectrum be handled when it comes to 5G. In a bipartisan bill, the representatives are pushing for a public auction of the spectrum.

The bill, Clearing Broad Airwaves for New Deployment (C-BAND) Act, was introduced by representatives Mike Doyle(D-Pa.), Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) and Greg Gianforte (R-Mont.)

“This bill would ensure a transparent and fair process that would generate billions of dollars in revenue to address the urgent needs of millions of Americans, such as building out broadband internet service in rural American while protecting users of incumbent services,” said Doyle.

The bill officially calls for the FCC to hold a public auction of C-band spectrum; allows for no less than 200 MHz and no more than 300 MHz of C-band spectrum; and ensures that incumbent C-band users will be protected. There would be a deadline of September 2022 to complete the auction.

FCC commissioner Michael O’Rielly, meanwhile, says that while an auction is a possibility, the “primary objective should be to ensure that the spectrum gets into the hands of those who can put it to use as quickly as possible in order to compete not just domestically but internationally as well.”

The House will have a hearing on C-band on Tuesday, Oct. 29.

WASHINGTON--Democratic leaders on the principal FCC oversight committee want the Republican chair to schedule an FCC oversight hearing ASAP, saying the commission has been willfully evasive.

In a letter to Greg Walden (R-Ore.), House Energy & Commerce Committee chair, ranking member Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Communications Subcommittee chair Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) said that while the Republicans had committed to quarterly oversight hearings with FCC commissioners, only two hearings have been held in the last six quarters.

An FCC oversight hearing scheduled for Feb. 16 was ultimately postponed, and the Democrats want it rescheduled immediately.

[Read: FCC Commissioners To Testify In House Feb. 16]

They also cited what they said has been FCC chair Ajit Pai's failure answer some questions in letters from committee Democrats, saying that has happened 26 times.

A half dozen other Democratic Communications Subcommittee members also signed the letter, including Reps. Bobby Rush (Ill.), Debbie Dingell (Mich.) and Yvette Clarke (N.Y.).

House Democrats, who have a bone to pick with Pai over numerous issues, from broadcast and net-neutrality deregulation to merger reviews and broadband subsidies, also have a bone to pick with what they say has been a lack of responsiveness to their queries about those and other issues.

Pai's office countered at the time that he has provided answers and will be giving them more. “We have already responded to 21 of the letters in question and look forward to responding to the remaining few in the near future,” said an FCC spokesperson two weeks ago after the then-latest letter accusing Pai of being unresponsive.