roundtable: TPR-NE Position on H.R. 1555

roundtable: TPR-NE Position on H.R. 1555

TPR-NE Position on H.R. 1555

W. Curtiss Priest (BMSLIB@mitvma.mit.edu)
Wed, 17 May 95 11:26:59 EDT 

Message-Id: <9505171529.AA29575@a.cni.org>
Date:         Wed, 17 May 95 11:26:59 EDT
From: "W. Curtiss Priest" <BMSLIB@mitvma.mit.edu>
Subject:      TPR-NE Position on H.R. 1555
To: Telecommunications Policy Roundtable <ROUNDTABLE@CNI.ORG>


          Telecommunications Bill H.R. 1555 Committee Release
                             from the
                Telecommunications Policy Roundtable
                             North East
                       A Public Interest Forum

              1.  Position regarding UNIVERSAL SERVICE
              2.  Position regarding CROSS-OWNERSHIP
              3.  P.E.G. Access

                       *****************
                       PLEASE DISTRIBUTE
                       *****************
                         May 15, 1995

Contact: Curtiss Priest, CITS, 617-662-4044

On May 11th the Telecommunications Policy Roundtable(NE) met
at Virtually Wired, 55 Temple Place, Boston, MA regarding the
position of the Roundtable on H.R. 1555

1.  UNIVERSAL SERVICE

The Telecommunications Policy Roundtable -- North East (TPR-NE) recommends
the following change in language regarding:
SEC. 246. UNIVERSAL SERVICE.
   (a)  Composition of the Board
          "In addition to the members required under section 410(c), one
          member of the Joint Board shall be a State-appointed utility
          consumer advocate nominated by a national organization of State
          utility consumer advocates."

To read:
          "In addition to the members required under section 410(c), one-
          third of the member of the Joint Board shall be State-appoint
          utility consumer advocates nominated by national organizations
          of State utility consumer advocates.  The advocates shall be
          selected to fully represent the range of public societal
          concerns and interests including education, health, and the
          general welfare of the nation."


Background:  Section 410(c) of the Communications Act of 1934 provides
for the composition of a Joint Board to be comprised as:

           "... a joint board to be composed of a member, or of an equal 
           number of members, as determined by the Commission, from each 
           of the States in which the wire or radio communication affected 
           by or involved in the proceeding takes place or is proposed."

Rationale:  It is believed by TPR-NE that were a board of fifty members
of state PUC members were convened, that a single "consumer advocate"
would not well represent the public interest in this matter.  The new
communications era will affect matters well beyond that anticipated
in the Communications Act of 1934 including matters of education,
competitiveness, privacy, equity, liberties, and the general shape of
a society in the "information age."  There are many important voices
that would not be heard with a single, 'token' advocate.

2.  The Telecommunications Policy Roundtable -- North East (TPR-NE)
finds language missing to protect the country against "cross-ownership"

Background:

Last week Dr. Curtiss Priest posted an article on several internet lists 
about the empire that Rupert Murdoch was building from UPSIDE magazine 
(Feb. 1995) The article describes an empire of over 25 companies owned 
by Murdoch including Delphi Internet Services, Fox Broadcasting, TV 
Guide, Harper-Collins Publishers, and the New York Post.

Concern:
The current bills in the house and the senate do not prevent cross-ownership
and could cause the greatest constriction of free speech this country
has ever seen.

Language:
There shall be no financial interests between a telecommunications
provider company and a media provider company.  No telecommunications
company shall own, in any part, a media company; no media company
shall own, in any part, a telecommunications company.

To illustrate the problem:
   Here is an announcement from MCI about their spending
   $2 BILLION dollars to be part of cross-ownership!

>From Boston Globe, 5/14/95, p. 76
BUSINESS --  A TANDEM REVVING UP FOR THE INFO HIGHWAY

MCI Communications Corp. announced Wednesday a planned investment of
$2 billion in News Corp., Rupert Murdoch's global media giant.  The
deal represents a neat fit between software and hardware, as the
various entertainment and information enterprises of News Corp.
might someday be distrbuting their products directly to customers'
homes through MCI transmission facilities.  "Until today," Murdoch said,
"no one has put together the right building blocks - programming, network
intelligence, distribution and merchandising - to offer new media
services on a global scale.  MCI's strengths are terrifically
synergistic with News Corp.'s"

3.  The Telecommunications Policy Roundtable -- North East (TPR-NE)
finds P.E.G. access language in H.R. 1555 to be in line with
prior P.E.G. requirements and asks that this language remain
in the bill.

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