House Looks at Investment Impact of Title II

The House Communications Subcommittee has scheduled a hearing for Oct. 27 on the FCC's reclassification of ISPs under Title II.

The hearing will look at the impact of the FCC's reclassification, it took effect June 12, on investment and, to that end, its witnesses will be primarily financial types.

ISPs argue common carrier regulations will depress investment, but FCC chairman Tom Wheeler has said he does not agree, and cited some ISP execs comments to Wall Street about continued investment.

The hearing witnesses are: Frank V. Louthan, managing director, equity research, Raymond James Financial; Michael Mandel, chief economic strategist, Progressive Policy Institute; Robert Shapiro, cofounder and chairman, Sonecon LLC; and Nicholas Economides, professor of economics, New York University Stern School of Business.

The Republican leadership of the committee generally holds to the economic theory espoused by ISPs that the new regs cast an economic pall over investment.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.