Four former FCC leaders to testify in a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee

Four former FCC leaders to testify in a House Energy and Commerce subcommitteeSubmitted by Neelesh Raghuwanshi on Wed, 01/15/2014 - 10:53 

In a Wednesday morning hearing which underscores the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee's attempts to reform the Communications Act, four former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will testify.
The Communications Act is the law which regulates the Internet, TV and telephone industries; and also outlines the powers of the FCC.  The law was last updated way back in 1996; and the former FCC leaders have apparently not been able to reach a consensus on how the law should be reformed, or how to carry out a rewrite of the law if required.

According to a prepared statement, subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) will put forth the opinion that the last, 1996 update of the Communications Act makes the law "outdated at best;" and that it is high time that the law reflects the modern technological landscape.
Meanwhile, in his written testimony, former Chairman Richard Wiley will likely put forward the suggestion that lawmakers should consider a "flexible and technologically neutral framework" which can be suitable to future technologies.
However, the proposal for a massive revamp of the Act will probably be turned down by former Chairman Reed Hundt in his testimony in the subcommittee; while former Chairman Michael Copps will say that most of the current law's shortcomings "are more the result of powerful industry efforts to undermine it and of Commission decisions that too often aid and abet that effort."