Sources: Commerce Expected to Hold FCC Oversight Hearing March 12

According to sources, the Senate Commerce Committee plans to
schedule an FCC oversight this month, with March 12 the likely date.

A committee spokesperson was not available at presstime,
though no hearing has yet been scheduled on its website. But an FCC source
confirms that is the target date for the hearing, to which all the
commissioners are expected to be invited to testify.

Look for Commerce chairman Jay Rockefeller (D- W. Va.) to
ask about the status of incentive auctions that will be used to fund the
emergency first responder broadband network he has championed.

He is also likely to include other broadband and phone
issues given that this week he reintroduced do not track online privacy
legislation and sent letters to the largest wireless carriers about wireless
"cramming" bill scams.

Rockefeller has also made gauging the impact of violent and
indecent content on kids a priority for his committee, so that issue may come
up as well.

Commerce held an FCC oversight hearing last May.

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.