It looks as though Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) will take over the powerful House Energy & Commerce Committee when the new Congress is seated early next year.

That is the committee with primary jurisdiction over the FCC and communications issues.

According to a Hill source, later confirmed by Walden's himself, the steering committee Thursday voted to recommend him as new chairman to the Republican caucus, which will vote for that new chairman Friday (Dec. 2), but the recommendation means Walden will almost certainly get the post.

He was running against Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.) and John Shimkus (R-Pa.). Both had seniority, but Walden, chairman of the Communications subcommittee, is very popular among his colleagues, particularly after heading up a congressional campaign funding effort that helped his party hold onto its majority, and most of its seats, in the last election despite predictions it could lose up to a couple of dozen.

Current E&C chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) was term-limited, so must give up that post. Walden was also term-limited in his subcommittee chairmanship. Had he not gotten the E&C post, there was some speculation he might be in the conversation for FCC chair or commissioner. He is a former broadcaster popular in those circles as well.

“I am deeply honored to earn the support of my colleagues to chair this incredibly important committee," Walden said following the vote. "Americans are looking for big improvements out of Washington, and that’s just what we’re going to give them as we work with the Trump Administration, the Senate, and the governors, to move forward on the Better Way agenda.  Our work will focus on what’s best for consumers, on creating better paying jobs and providing patient-centered health care.

“I commend my friends and fellow committee members, former Chairman Joe Barton and Subcommittee Chairman John Shimkus, for stepping forward to compete for this chairmanship.  They are talented legislators and leaders to whom I will turn for help as we embark on our legislative work. I also want to thank outgoing Chairman Fred Upton who proved again yesterday with overwhelming passage of the 21st Century Cures legislation, that our committee does great, bipartisan work for the American people."

Walden said subcommittee chairmanships, including his own replacement, won't be made until after the steering committee sets new committee rosters in early January.

“Like the Chicago Cubs, we are a team full of MVPs and Energy and Commerce will be in great hands with my friend Greg Walden holding the gavel," said Upton. "Greg’s leadership with #SubCommTech demonstrated his hard work and proven record of success,” said Upton. “We’ve got a lot to do in the remaining days of this Congress, including getting 21st Century Cures across the finish line. As we look toward a new year, a new Congress, and a new administration, the Energy and Commerce Committee will be leading the way on health reform, keeping energy affordable, and putting folks back to work. House Republicans have a better way, and I look forward to Greg Walden’s leadership in the 115th Congress.”

“I congratulate Congressman Walden on his selection as the new Chairman of this great Committee," said Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), ranking member of the commmittee. "[I] look forward to working with him to address the pressing needs of the American people. The Energy and Commerce Committee has a long and proud history of bipartisanship, and I’m confident that we can continue that tradition in the coming years.” 

“As a subcommittee chairman responsible for much of the House’s legislative tech portfolio, Greg Walden and I have worked well together to conduct oversight and pass important legislation benefiting the public," said Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.). "I congratulate him on receiving the full committee gavel and look forward to continuing our efforts to enact legislation benefiting all Americans."

Their respective committees share oversight over the FCC and communications issues.

“We wish to congratulate incoming Chairman Greg Walden on his election as Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee," said Chip Pickering, CEO of INCOMPAS and himself a former vice chairman of the Energy & Commerce Committee. "He has demonstrated himself to be an open, fair and substantive public servant, dedicated to rural communities, innovation and broadband growth. We look forward to working with him and the entire Committee on ways to improve and expand technology networks of the future."

"We congratulate Rep. Walden on his selection as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in the upcoming Congress," said Michael Powell, president of NCTA: The Internet & Television Association. "Chairman Walden is a thoughtful policymaker with extensive experience and deep knowledge of issues surrounding telecommunications, technology and other important sectors of the U.S. economy.  We look forward to working Chairman Walden and the full Committee on a productive agenda that encourages private capital investment, supports ongoing innovation and promotes the growth of our national economy.”

"NAB congratulates Greg Walden on his selection to be the next chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Rep. Walden's career has been marked by accomplishment and integrity," said National Association of Broadcasters President Sen. Gordon Smith. "We look forward to working with him and other members of Congress and the Committee in the new Congress."

“TIA has worked with Rep. Walden for several years in his role as chairman of the Communications Subcommittee, and we know he understands the enormous economic and employment contributions of U.S. telecom and tech companies," said Telecommunications Industry Association interim CEO David Heard. "He’s been a leader on key ICT issues, including his instrumental role in the passage of the landmark Spectrum Act in 2012. We’re confident that, as chairman of the full committee, he will continue to seek pro-growth policies that encourage private sector investment, support our nation’s spectrum needs, and help maintain America’s innovation leadership.

“We look forward to working with Chairman Walden and all members of the Energy and Commerce Committee. Their work in the years ahead will play a critical role in advancing life-changing consumer technologies and in shaping the future of the U.S. economy and our role in the world.”

An FCC source confirms the FCC's Dmeocratic majority has voted to approve the FCC's quadrennial media ownership review notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM).

House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) had said at an FCC oversight hearing Tuesday (July 12) that he had been told that was the case.

That came in an FCC oversight hearing in his subcommittee.

That item does not loosen or lift duopoly or crossownership rules, though it does add a failing newspaper waiver to newspaper-broadcast crossownership rule. It also revives the FCC's restriction on existing TV joint sales agreements.

Walden said he hoped the FCC item had not ignored Congress' 'very specific views" to the FCC through the legislative process on JSAs that he hoped were not being ignored, adding: "That would be very disappointing."

Congress has passed legislation that grandfathers JSA's existing before the FCC's March 2014 vote that would otherwise have to have been unwound under the FCC rules and allows those grandfathered JSA's to change hands without having to be unwound.

An FCC spokesperson would not confirm the quadrennial review vote, but at the hearing FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly said that the committee would soon enough see what the FCC (majority) had done and that it was "even stronger" than what was on the fact sheet the FCC put out when the item was circulated, saying there were even more "prescriptive" requirements.

The FCC last month circulated its long-overdue quadrennial media ownership rule review. Congress requires the FCC to periodically review its rules to see if they are still in the public interest.

A source confirmed that Republican commissioner Michael O'Rielly has yet to vote the item. Once an item has three votes for approval, the other commissioners have two weeks to vote or it is automatically adopted, though a one-week extension on that is routinely granted.

Given that there is a public meeting this Thursday (July 14) to which most commissioners' attention will not be turned, and the oversight hearing Tuesday (July 12) to which their attention has been turned, it could easily be a couple of weeks before the item is final.

Wheeler also suggested that there was still room for discussion with the minority commissioners, and edits could still be made to the item so long as three commissioners approved them.

For example, if, hypothetically, O'Rielly asked that the radio-newspaper crossownership rule be scrapped and the chairman decided he could live with that, it could become part of the item.

House Communications Subcommittee chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) made it clear what he thought of the FCC's recent activity, and inactivity, on media ownership rules. "Pretending laws designed for an era before smartphones and the Inernet will get the job done is an effective death sentence for many local media outlets," he said.

That came in opening statements on a hearing Wednesday (June 11) on media ownership rules, part of the parent House Energy & Commerce Committee's ongoing review of communications regs, as well as a response to some current events like the JSA ruling and the decision to role the 2010 and 2014 quadrennial reviews into one targeted for mid-year 2016.

The inactivity was the FCC's split decision not to loosening the newspaper-broadcast crossownership rules--it is seeking more input--and not completing the 2010 quadrennial media ownership rule review mandated by Congress--it is seeking more input. The activity is recent decisions to make most joint sales agreements attributable under ownership rules and Media Bureau guidance issue in March that the FCC is taking a dim view of sharing arrangements that appear to be attempts to circumvent duopoly rules.

Walden was pushing for regulatory relief. "I fear that local broadcast and newspaper companies will continue to struggle against unregulated competitors whose business models are not hamstrung by decades-old regulatory assumptions," he said.

He said everyone was committed to the core values promoting localism, diversity and competition, but his view was that was best served by not hampering broadcasters ability to compete.

Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), ranking member of the subcommittee agreed with those core values, but didn't see how allowing more consolidation was the answer. "Our goal should be to promote localism, competition and encourage diversity, not to roll back what few protections we have left," she said.

Eshoo also took aim at JSAss. "While some have criticized the FCC for cracking down on 'sidecar' deals before concluding its 2010 review"--Walden among them--" we firmly believe that the agency has an obligation to enforce existing rules on the books, regardless of the outcome of its review."

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) made a brief appearance, but long enough to say he thought the newspaper-broadcast crossownership rules served all those core values and should be preserved.

The FCC took plenty of heat from Republicans for not having completed the quadrennial review. Bill Lake, FCC Media Bureau chief, told the legislators it was not for lack of trying, and that Chairman Tom wheeler was committed to completing the review by mid-2016. But even th FCC's target June 30 date is only the date on which Lake said the FCC would "present recommendations to other commissioners."

NAB's Jane Mago argued that the FCC was making decisions based on speculation rather than real evidence, while Lake suggested the FCC was basing decisions on the market as it existed today. In the case of JSA's, he said, that was a market where the combination of joint sales agreements with "entangling" financial arrangements had been used to circumvent local ownership rules, something the FCC was looking to prevent with the new JSA rules, which he pointed out also had a waiver provision for the examples of beneficial JSAs--being offered up by Mago--and for failing stations--a concern of one Republican lawmaker.

Mago argued that the marketplace had been revolutionized by competition, digital and otherwise, while time had seemed to stand still at the FCC. She said broadcasters need a more level playing field, including rules that keep pace with market changes or are eliminated.

Eshoo asked what good consolidation had done for the public, rather than the financial markets. Mago said it was a way to preserve a vibrant and competitive broadcast marketplace. She said broadcasting was not in a bubble, and suggested the FCC needed to get out of its bubble and allow broadcasters to compete on a more level playing field.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), no fan of the FCC's ownership regs, pushed Lake on the FCC's promise of expedited review of waivers of its new JSA limits. The FCC has said that it would act on such waivers within 90 days, unless circumstances required additional review. Kinzinger asked just what circumstances those might be. Lake said it could be the need for more info, but said if that were the case the parties would be notified, and said he did not anticipate those happening very often. He said the goal was to meet that 90-day deadline.

Walden suggested in his opening statement that he recognized the FCC rules had been adopted with good intentions, but said he feared that laws "intended to ensconce our love of local media are loving them to death."

And what would a death reference be without an undead reference.

Witness Bernard Lunzer of Guild-CWA, definitely no fan of consolidation, said that it led to layoffs and outlets programming remotely. "We get to a situation where some broadcast stations are essentially zombies," he said, "places where broadcasting continues but there are few if any employees involved."