New media caucus and the congressional internet caucus. He joins us for the communicators this week. Congressman latta, not a lot going on in Telecommunications Policy in this congress, is that a fair statement . [laughter] guest actually, if youre on the committee, theres a lot going on. Almost weekly weve been having different subcommittee hearings, and weve been very, very active. And, of course, theres some big issues that have been going on like the spectrum auction, and so theres Different Things out there, and cybersecurity. But sometimes it doesnt make all the news, but the subcommittees been very, very active. Host and were going to talk about some of those issues in this edition of the communicators, but i wanted to ask you about the fcc. Brand new fcc, five be members all coming to see your committee, potentially, in december. Is that correct . Guest correct. Host whats the importance of having all five . Guest well, again, the fccs so important to the industry and to the country that, you know, i think its important that they all appear before us in committee and that the committee can ask them questions to find out where theyre going especially when were talking about fcc reform and what the futures going to hold there, what their philosophy is. Because, you know, before weve had the commissioners before us, but i think its very important that the chair is bringing the fcc in at this time. Host what do you mean by fcc reform . Guest well, i think its important that theres Different Things out there. You know, when youre talking about transparency, predictability, whats going on out there, you know, its moving things a along for, like the chairman brings out it took him almost, i think he said ten years for something to get done, and almost like he got here before e got something done. Its having something out there like having a costbased analysis of what they do, making sure they understand like any regulation out there that their regulations have a direct impact on the economy and that they need to realize that because, you know, it affects everybody. And from large to small. And we may be talking a little bit about that for the smaller folks. But its important that the fcc understands that theyre part of the process here in washington, but that ross affects so many that process affects so many people across the country. Host joining us as well is Brendan Sasso with the hill newspaper where he coffers technology. Thanks, peter. Congressman, as im sure you know, senator rockefeller introduced a bill recently about online video, the idea being be, as i understand it, sort of provide these Legal Protections to online video is thes so make that for of a legitimate alternative to cable television. What do you think of that bill . Is that something the house is going to look at . Guest i think chairman walden has said this is a Bold Initiative out there. But when i look at whats happening if our committee, in full committee and also in the subcommittee, i probably would say thats not really going to see very much work on our side, if any. Again, i think the chairman says its a Bold Initiative, but i dont want see it moving along in the house. And senator rockefellers retiring at the end of next year, so is this an idea thats just not going to go anywhere ever . Guest well, i wouldnt say because a lot of times another member will pick be up a piece of legislation down the road, but its a stage right now that i dont see that legislation moving. Host are you philosophically opposed to that . Guest again, i dont think its really had the air time between all of the parties out there at the table with whats going on. Its something that our subcommittee or full committee hasnt even really taken a look at at this time. Also asking about another online video issue which would be aereo, the service that uses these tiny antennas to pick pup overtheair broadcasting. The broadcasters are going to the Supreme Court about this. Is this something depending on how the Supreme Court rules that congress is going to take up . Guest i think that, again, in that case youve got a situation where youre looking at its in the courts right now, and i think we have two courts out there that have ruled differently on the issue. And its one of those things out there that when you look at it, i think they have 4050,000 subscribers right now, and so i think at this time the committees going to wait and see what the courts are going to do and go from this. It seems like the issue is you write the laws, so you can decide whether its legal or not legal. Do you have an opinion . Are you concerned the broadcasters are saying if they lose, theyre going to take their content off the air and even the other day the nfl and Major League Baseball filed a brief, and theyre saying if aereo wins, they might move all of their games on to Cable Networks like espn and and tnt. Guest and, again, i think it comes down to what the courts are going to do as this moves forward. I think the committees going to watch whats going on and then after, you know, once we see what the courts come up with, then i think the committee could go back and look at it at that time. Host do you have a feeling . How do you stand on it . When you look at the concept of aereo, what do you think . Guest well, you know, i guess i havent really taken a stand on that. Its one of those issues out there that, you know, thats youre talking about bringing the fcc with the commissioners before us. This is a whole industry that is changing so rapidly. And one of the things that ive said over and over and over, you know, when folks are before us in committee, we have situations where youre looking at that if the regulators come for the regulation or we try to pass a piece of legislation without really taking a good look way down the road, a lot of times the industry might be two, three, four steps ahead of us as to whats going on out there. And with the industry is also what the people are out there looking at. And, you know, years ago i dont think anybody would have looked into a crystal ball and thought somebody on a College Campus would be streaming, you know, netflix onto an iphone to watch a movie. And so i think this is whats happening out there, is weve got huge issues out there that the technology and and because, again, you know, not wanting to date yourself, but i remember in northwest ohio, you know, depending on the day if the antenna on top of the house was working right, you got two channels, and maybe youve got one channel, and somedays you department get any channels because it you didnt get any channels because it depended on the wind, the light and everything else. The industrys changed so rapidly that i want to make sure we have things out there that, and the regulations and the laws on the books that spur this innovation. Because if im not mistaken, i think weve created around on that end of the industry alone, just on the cell phone side, about 3. 8 million jobs either direct or indirect. And so were watching an explosioning out there, whats happening in the industry. And the other really interesting fact is that, you know, theyre saying by the year 2017 were looking at probably having 1. 4 mobile devices per capita across the entire world. Be we know thats not going to happen because were going to see that really happening, you know, more in industrialized countries. And you look in this country what you have in your own pocket anymore, what youre carrying in a briefcase, you might have two, three, maybe even four types of mobile devices. This is what makes this such an interesting subcommittee to serve on, is hearing the innovation thats going to be happening not just next year, but five years and ten years down the road. Host well, that leads to two different areas of questioning. Number one, weve talked with guests on this ram ant a potential rewrite program about a potential rewrite of the Telecommunications Act of 96 and whether or not it should be done wholesale, whether or not it should be done piecemeal. Do you have a feeling about that . Guest again, when you look at whats happening with the act from 96 and where we are today, you have to go back and look what is in that act and how does it pertain today. You know, are those things, are the laws in place that were enacted at that time still cognizant to where we are today . And, again, thats where i think that through the hearings that weve been having from telethat and again from stella and again on the spectrum side and you go through the five gigahertz, you go down the entire line, that you really have to look at the breadth of the law and say is it meeting the needs as were going to be not next year, but in five, ten, twenty years down the road . Host and the second issue that it raises, of course, is, is the spectrum going to be available for this 1. 4 devices per capita across the world . Guest well, and, you know, were looking at having the spectrum auction that hopefully by the end of next year, the end of the fourth quarter, maybe going into the First Quarter of 2015. And when you look at that time frame out there, my staff and i ran over to the fccs war room to see how theyre setting things up, getting things ready. Because, again, when youre looking at this is going to be the most complicated auction thats ever occurred. When youre looking at a reverse, a forward, trying to repack the center for, you know, the folks out there that are giving up on the broadcast side of where theyre going to be. And so then you run into the questions, you know, how is this going to play out for the different individual or the Different Companies out there if they want to actually get into in the auction . And, because again, as you said, we absolutely need this spectrum. Were looking at on the government side are we taking up too much spectrum in guard bands . Are we taking up too much spectrum on the defense side . Are we taking up, you know, so all those things are being looked at and explored. But at the same time, this auction is going to be absolutely crucial because, again, its going to raise around 26 27 billion what the estimate is by cbo. And at the same time, youre looking at about 7 billion saying were going to use that for firstnet out there for the First Responder ors. So this thing is technical, but its going to have to raise dollars to meet all these needs that are being projected of what its going to be, were going to need that spectrum for. There any particular proposals that youre worried about in the structure of the auction, say how participants are limited or how much goes to unlicensed use for spectrum . Guest well, you bring up a good point because earlier we had the Justice Department come out with a letter saying, you know, should Certain Companies be either, you know, limited as to what theyre going to be purchasing. Well, and ive talked to a lot of my folks back in my area and ive said, now, if we would have a situation where youd be limited as to who you could sell your spectrum to from your, on the broadcast side, would you do that . And today said why would we want they said why would we want to get into an auction system that we might not get the full value of what its worth . And so i think that, you know, we want it to be fair. So thats one of the big things is that and youve got to really look at who the players are going to be out there. But again, for people to get into this, youre going to have to say that were going to have folks out there that are going to be willing to sell, to give up that spectrum. Do you think that some sort of limitations would be appropriate . I mean, its the job of the fcc to promote the Public Interest and to promote competition in the industry, and if at the end of the auction you have an industry thats dominated by two players at t and verizon is that something thats in the Public Interest . Guest you want to make sure and, again, you want to make sure that the interests are met out there and that people are getting the spectrum they need. Again, weve been having the hearings in the committee, weve had folks from across not to be, have a pun out there, across the spectrum of everybody out there. But listening to their needs, listening to how theyre going to go forward, you know, if theyre going to be selling, if theyre going to be buying, i think were going to look at whats out there with all of the individuals and consider the companies and the public as we go forward. Because with, again, its as brought up, we have got to have the spectrum because, again, if we dont have it, were going to be were limiting ourself for the future. If say chairman tom wheeler comes up with a structure for the auction where say at t and verizon are excluded or extremely limited, is there a response from congress . Is that a bill, a resolution of disapproval . What do you do . Guest again we go right back to if all of a sudden youre going to say the two top players or two companies are going to be excluded, and then youre going to have Companies Like in my district that say were not going to sell or other people ive talked with from ohio, they say were not going to get into it, so were going to go into an auction thats got to raise about 26 billion. And, again, weve you know, theyre committing already 7 billion on the firstnet side that if we dont have the dollars out there, youre not going to be able to move forward with these other proposals down the road. So it really comes down to, again, i dont think you can say if were going to exclude people at the start, i think youre going to keep them from even entering the auction to say they wont even participate. Host congressman latta, you have a hearing this week with firstnet chair sam ginn. Whats your concerns about firstnet . Guest well, ive heard from the folks back in ohio as well as weve had folks that have given testimony from virginia and maryland, and the folks in the states are feeling like theyre being excluded from the Decision Making. They feel that theyre not being part of this process, and they want to be part of it. Theyre worried about the cost because, again, states like ohio have invested a lot of money, and what we have done in the past for our emergency folks out there. And so weve heard from folks out there that they want to be included in the Decision Making processes. And so i think thats important. And i think were going to have somebody coming from ohio to give testimony this week. Because be, again, weve heard from the folks in virginia, weve heard from the folks in maryland. Host is firstnet bigfooting the Emergency Response structure . Guest well, you know, youre looking at something going across the country. Youre looking at how people are going to be responding. And, again, i was a county commissioner for six years in my home county, and i worked with, you know, with all of our with the sheriffs office, other folks, i was in the state legislature for 11. Your Emergency Responders from your police, your fire, your ems, you know, all those individuals out there in those group are very concerned that theyve got to be able to talk with each other, theyve got to be able to make sure that, you know, somethings not interfering with them to get the job done. And so, again, thats why i think its so important, again, that were hearing from the folks at the state level that are saying that, you know, they want to be this should be not an exclusive, but an inclusive process. That they are included in the Decision Making. That they can help say that, you know, is this going to be the right thing to do, is this because, again, youve got to listen to the people, the boots on the ground at home to make these work. Host Brendan Sasso. One of the issues that congress is likely to deal with is i believe you mentioned it before, stella, Satellite Television reauthorization bill. Are there other do you think that should be a clean reauthorization, or are there other issues that congress should look at when theyre taking up that bill . Guest well, you know, with stella were looking at december the 31st of next year, 2014, and its hard to believe that, you know, were only 13 months from it was i remember in jan when we were talking we were 24 months away. And there are options you could just do a clean reauthorization, do nothing, you know, do some tweaking or have it very comprehensive. Chairman waldens already said hes not looking at doing any type of a comprehensive type of bill, so i think youre looking at more of a, you know, what do we have to do with stella. Because, again, i think that 2014, december 31st is going to be here before we know it. So i think that well be probably looking at something just what we have to get done and probably, you know, making sure that it, again, its one of those complicated bills out there. I dont think that on the comprehensive side were going to see it. But there are particular issues people might want to address, say retransmission issues where broadcasters are asking for more money than maybe what the cable providers want to pay, and the result is consumers lose access to stations. Is that something that guest well, and, again, with the chair looking atta were not going to do a comprehensive bill, so, you know, could it become as germane as something to that piece of legislation or not, and, again, i think its going to be up to greg as to what he sees down the road is what hes going to envision as that comprehensive piece or not being a comprehensive piece of legislation for the reauthorization. You have your cable card bill. Two questions, is that something the subcommittee, has chairman walden indicated thats something hes going to take up, and is that something you would like to see as part of the stella reauthorization . Guest again, id like to see my legislation on the cable card be enacted because, again, when you look at whats happened out there, we have about 41,42 million cable boxes out there. What the fcc did several years ago did not do what they thought, and that was to spur people to go out and buy their own boxes. And when you put this integration band in, what happened, of course, was that its actually costing i think about 56 more per box to do this. And