A revitalized FCC is broadband bound: in the near future, broadband will be comparable to what electricity, telephones, and interstate highways were to previous generations.

• Author: Fischer, Raymond L.
• Position: Mass Media

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WITH A NEW chairman, two incoming members, and a pair of returnees (all experienced and highly qualified) the Federal Communications Commission now has the potential to revitalize itself--reshaping the agency through the resolution of controversial issues and establishing the nationwide use of broadband. Backed by Pres. Barack Obama, the FCC already has initiated internal improvements and plans for expanding broadband.

Sworn in on June 29, 2009, as the new FCC chairman, Julius Genachowski has been a friend of Pres. Obama's since their student days together at Harvard University. As a campaign adviser, Genachowski contributed to Obama's technology policy plan--referred to as "open government, open networks, and open markets." Genachowski has had prior FCC-related experience--first as special counsel to then-FCC general counsel William Kennard and later as top staffer to former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt. His Internet experience includes more than 10 years in the technology industry: he cofounded LaunchBox Digital and Rock Creed Ventures while working for Harry Diller's IAG Interactive collection of websites, and he served as a board member of Common Sense Media, an organization dedicated to improving the media lives of children and fatuities.

During his nomination hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee, Genachowski received praise--and advice. Sen. Mike Johanns (R.-Neb.) told him, "If you are not qualified, I don't know who would be." However, Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D.W.V.) warned Genachowski to "prove to us that the FCC is not battered beyond repair.... Fix the agency or we will fix it for you." In response to the committee's challenge, Genachowski promised to run transparent agency and work closely with Congress. He vowed to uphold the law pertaining to indecency by supporting technological, rather than ideological, solutions to parental content control; to oppose the Fairness Doctrine and censorship based on political opinion; and to meet Congress' deadline for submitting a national broadband plan. Genachowski received the Senate Commerce Committee's approval in a fast-track vote.

Meredith Attwell Baker, sworn in on July 31, recently served as acting assistant secretary for Communications and Information and acting administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), Pres. Obama's principal adviser on telecommunications and information policy. At NTIA, Baker advised and represented the Executive Branch on domestic and international telecommunications and information policy activities. Under Baker's direction, NTIA pursued the Federal government's effective and efficient utilization of the radio-frequency spectrum. In managing Federal spectrum use, she...