Waxman OK With Plan Extension

By John Eggerton
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

House Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman
(D-Calif.) says he is amenable to the FCC's request for an extension of the
broadband plan due date to March 17.

In a statement released Thursday, Waxman called the
extension modest and said he supported it "given the critical importance
of this endeavor and the need to consider a record unprecedented in size and
scope."

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller has
already said he is OK with the move, which FCC Chairman Julius Genachwoski saidwas necessary to make sure that stakeholders and commissioners had ample
time to vet the plan.

The plan had been due Feb. 17. The extension could give it
time to collect reply comments on inquiries into spectrum reclamation, set-top
boxes and IP networks.

John Eggerton
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.