K-STREET, 10,000 FEET: Conservative coalition warns NAB petition requiring FCC to adopt NextGenTV counteracts Trump Golden Age agenda
THE LOWDOWN:
A coalition of conservatives is warning that a petition from the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) to require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to “impose a mandate on the cable and satellite industries that would force them to adopt NextGenTV” runs counter to President Donald Trump’s Golden Age agenda.
According to a letter led by organizations like Americans for Tax Reform, Digital Liberty, Consumer Action for a Strong Economy, and more and obtained exclusively by the Washington Reporter, the FCC “should maintain its voluntary, market-driven adoption policy that has reached the vast majority of Americans, not embrace a mandate just to reach the small minority of markets broadcasters have struggled to penetrate.”
The coalition maintains that NAB’s request is unnecessary in part because of the widespread adoption of NextGenTV, which has already been adopted in around 75 percent of markets on its own merits.
A government mandate to force the rest of the markets to use it is unnecessary, and “runs directly contrary to Chairman [Brendan] Carr’s deregulatory agenda,” one market expert explained.
A coalition of conservatives is warning that a petition from the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) to require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to “impose a mandate on the cable and satellite industries that would force them to adopt NextGenTV” runs counter to President Donald Trump’s Golden Age agenda.
According to a letter led by organizations like Americans for Tax Reform, Digital Liberty, Consumer Action for a Strong Economy, and more and obtained exclusively by the Washington Reporter, the FCC “should maintain its voluntary, market-driven adoption policy that has reached the vast majority of Americans, not embrace a mandate just to reach the small minority of markets broadcasters have struggled to penetrate.”
“The Commission should take the plight of broadcasters seriously,” the coalition wrote. “They should be understood as a legacy technology that was saddled with a steep regulatory burden back when that was in vogue in the mid-20th Century.”
“The solution now is to deregulate and allow genuine market competition to dictate which technologies survive and thrive,” they continued.
There’s precedent for this too. It’s akin to what the “FCC did in 2017 with the original ATSC 3.0 order,” the group explained.
“The FCC should stick to this roadmap that has empowered consumer choice while allowing broadcasters to consolidate and capitalize,” the group wrote, also urging the FCC to “reject mandates and maintain market-driven approaches to new technologies.”
“If broadcasters feel they’re being treated unfairly, they should focus on repealing regulations that haven’t been updated since the Second World War, not force their competitors to adopt their technologies,” James Erwin, the Executive Director of Digital Liberty, told the Reporter. “Chairman Carr is taking a Milei-sized buzz saw to outdated regulations; he’s not likely to add more just because broadcasters can’t make a business case for NextGenTV in every market.”
The coalition maintains that NAB’s request is unnecessary in part because of the widespread adoption of NextGenTV, which has already been adopted in around 75 percent of markets on its own merits.
A government mandate to force the rest of the markets to use it is unnecessary, and “runs directly contrary to Chairman [Brendan] Carr’s deregulatory agenda,” one market expert explained.
“Imposing new regulations to prop up a dying industry is the opposite of what is needed to usher in America’s Gold Age,” he continued. “Broadcasters should themselves be deregulated instead.”
Subscribe to Washington Reporter
 | A guest post by
|
