taste about where we stand now as a country on that. >> and do you have any ideas on what we can do, meaning the fcc or the congress or whoever can do to try to make ownership of broadcast outlets more possible for minority interests? >> i think the first thing possibly is to make sure that we understand what's actually going on out there. i've been told that there are, that the data with respect to ownership now is not satisfactory, and there's work that can be done to understand that. second, i think this is an area that lends itself to the fcc running a process that's open and that's creative and that looks for ways that are constitutionally permissible and that would actually work, but that lead to a wide

dissemination of licenses and diversity in ownership. .. >> yeah. i just think that policy goal of a more diverse spectrum is a national goal that we should continue to try to do and i would be glad to work with you on how to get there. >> the second question is about broadband going out to reerl areas. this morning, this committee had a hearing on inez tenenbaum and her confirmation process. and she had real good ideas about how the cpsc can better communication dangers and recalls and safety and all this stuff to the general public. but one thing that struck me is most of her ideas -- not all, most of them dealt with people having broadband capability so they could receive this type of information from the cpsc.

i would like to ask you about the b top of the broadband opportunity program in the stimulus package. do you know much about that? and do you have a sense of how that's going to be administered? >> my understanding is that it's the commerce department and the agriculture department that have the grant-making authority. the fcc as i understand it has responsibilities to consult with those agencies as they put together the plans for distributing the grants. >> and i know you're not there yet because you understanding the fcc is involved in the process? >> my understanding there's been a consultation, yes. >> are you happy with what you hear on that or do you think the fcc should be more involved and do you think that program is going to actually get to unserved areas as senator hutchison was referring to? >> senator, i don't have any access to nonpublic information. from what i've heard publicly, i

believe that active, healthy consultation processes are going forward. i think these kinds of activities are ways to demonstrate how government can work together collaboratively to pursue a common end. the fcc is the expert agency around communications and our communications infrastructure. it's more than appropriate that the fcc play a consultive role and is certainly that i would want to jump into if confirmed and work with you to understand ideas you may have on the grant program. >> and lastly, i would like to ask you about something that's important to you as a parent and me as a parent and others in this room as parents and grandparents. we passed the child safe viewing act. i don't know if you know the history of that. are you familiar with that? >> i have some familiarity, but please. >> you know, basically when the

v chip bill passed way back when in, i think, '96, if i'm not mistaken there was a requirement the fcc would continue to look at technology and see if this idea could be improved upon. and this act that we passed recently in the last year or two, you know, basically mandated that the fcc do some -- you know, open a case on it, basically. and i want to thank acting chair copps because he's done that. i understand you're in a comment period right now, maybe in the second round of a comment period. my question for you is, given your background and all the things that you've done, do you think it's time that we revisit v chip and not just the technology but the v chip system that's in place? >> senator, first of all, i admire your leadership in this area. it's very important and it's something that i've been

concerned about some time. you mentioned grandparents and imagining my grandparents and my kids watching tv together sometimes it's a challenging thing to think about. i believe in the power of technology to help drive solutions here. it shouldn't be ideological. making sure that parents are empowered to make decisions about what their children see. and i have great hope for what technology can do to help parents here. exactly what the ideas are, i think should come out of healthy process at the fcc. i know that process has begun. i hope it's generating great creative ideas. i'd like to see innovation in this area and think about what kinds of incentives can we provide so that we get as much innovation here with respect to

technologies to help parents as we do in other areas. >> mr. chairman, thank you. >> thank you very much. senator? >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. and as senator pryor just talked border boxes i'd little be very interested in how you proceed and for the same reasons as someone who has a young child, someone asked me what shows have i watched recently and he's a little under 7 and he started to describe a sitcom. i have no clue what they were talking about. it wasn't on -- i wasn't publicize one channel but i'll say pbs was the other channel. if it's not on those two i have no clue what's on the regular shows unless it's a newscast. i'm very interested as you proceed as chair on the fcc. let me, if i can, and you and i talked briefly about this in the universal service fund and how important that is at least for our state a very rural state and i like to describe here in this committee extreme rural, the

distance and the travel and the complexity of transportation of these locations but also just the climate conditions really creates some unique situations. under the -- and i know there's talk about reform and as that moves forward, there'll be issues of concern for us as alaska is identified if i'm not mistaken it's 100% tribal, which gives it some special considerations. and i'm curious on how and what -- how you feel about that policy and how lands, tribal issues, tribal land is recognized and how alaska fits into that. and you may can give a general. you don't have to give a specific. a specific about that and the reform itself of the usf. >> sure. senator, the principle of universal service is a core principle of communications policy as, you know, that goes back to the beginnings of the communications act that has been reinforced many times by congress. and that is a priority of mine.

i would like to see us have as much success in universal service in communications over the next 75 years that we've had over the last 75 years. extending communications infrastructure and the benefits of communications to all americans. and i defer to your knowledge of alaska, of course, but i think historically, there's been success in universal service in alaska and i'd like to see that continue in the future with respect to, you know, the vast -- all of the vast country that we have. >> fantastic. >> let me -- let me -- and i appreciate that. and you're right. it's been very successful and very useful and also in alaska because our lands are different with the alaskan native people their tribal lands incorporate tribal lands. it's different than reservation lands. sometimes we have to continue to point that out because our land claim settlement was much different than the traditional reservation settlements. so as you have an opportunity -- and i know i said in my statement i didn't give you a a

chance but i am looking forward to you coming to alaska and i want to echo that because this will give you the chance to see the value of that program. >> good, i'd like that. >> let me also point out in alaska the issue of how we provide broadband -- we have some concerns by satellite providers and currently they are concerned they'll be excluded from the national broadband plan because in alaska the cost of the satellite is part of the equation. how do you see that and will you in the broadband plan keep that all in consideration that in alaska, satellites are utilized in a lot of ways to get them more costly connection that may not be done by land? >> senator, that's not an issue that i'm very familiar with. i'm glad you've raised it and i'd like to make sure that i have a chance to work with you on it and make sure that it gets the attention that it deserves in the fcc's workings on the national broadband plan.

>> excellent. that i can tell you they're very concerned because the vast distances, the uniqueness of the lack of access to infrastructure, satellite has become part of the equation of how we deliver broadband. the good news in alaska, 70-plus percent we're the highest connected state in the history which is unusual in its own way and it's because of this kind of relationship we have with satellite as well as on the ground. let me, if i can -- and i know you're a big, big supporter of erate and again, for us it's more of a state for the record as our discussion occurred privately and that is the importance of erate and how we deliver when we have no child left behind act that says you must have a certain type of teacher with certain credentials teaching kids at certain levels and some schools we may only have 10, 15 people and have all that specialty is impossible. so e-rate in our education

compatibility in telecommunications is possible. we can go from one hub and teach in 30 different villages at the same time. i want to reemphasize that and hear your support on the record how important e-rate may have especially in rural communities? >> yes, i was privileged to see the early dates of e-rate of chairman rockefeller and chairman snowe worked for it it's a great accomplishment. thinking about broadband going forward and the opportunities that it creates for all americans, education is a great example. a way to give children everywhere access to the best information, the best teachers, to allow children in rural areas to have the same opportunities as children who live close to universities. i'm very excited about the opportunities for education and broadband and for the next generation of e-rate.

>> very good. my time has expired but let me again thank you. i think you're going to be an incredible chair and to mr. mcdonald, i apologize. i won't be here. but again, mr. mcdowell, your reappointment is a big plus. you've seen it and you've been there and we'll work on the chairman together and give him that great experience of alaska. not the fish, the telecommunications. but again, thank you both and i look forward to working with you all on alaska specific. >> thank you. >> before i call on senator cantwell and senator klobuchar, i have to make a committee announcement. i'm not pleased by the way that -- this was my fault so i take full responsibility for it. that people made their statements and then left. some happily came back.

and for that i applaud them. but it is wrong -- i mean, this is a mammothly important hearing. a mammothly hearing for nomination and a vote to follow. we cannot have it that people come in and make their opening statements, get into their opening statements the questions that they're going to ask any way and then having done so, leave. this is an embarrassment to you. it's an embarrassment to me. it's an embarrassment to the united states senate and to this committee. so from now on, there may be very rare occasions but we will not have opening statements except from the chairman and the ranking member. and then we will go directly to the witness. and that will be the order. i now call on senator cantwell. >> mr. chairman, will that be the genachowski rule? [laughter]

>> i thank the chairman. and i agree. i'm here to ask questions in person and i think it is an important hearing so thank you for your statement. mr. genachowski, the diversity of media -- i don't know if any of my colleagues have asked about that so far. but i've supported technical changes required to expand the number of low-powered fm stations. and these are important because they develop local content and they are important to the very community interest. i certainly have opposed media consolidation particularly with the cross-ownership and i don't think it's really the way that we're going to save newspapers. i don't think that's the issue. i think that there is an important role, though, for police, education and government, the peg channels. and their service. and peg channels provide an outlet for people in the community to create and distribute their own television

programming. but i'm concerned if the -- i know you're working on a rule-making, but if the translators get priority and fill all the available frequencies, even if congress were to allow low-powered stations to operate in the adjacent channels it wouldn't be operational. i want to understand what you're doing to make sure you're keeping the diversity of voices and having low-powered stations. >> senator, yes, we spoke about this a little bit before the wide dissemination of spectrum licenses, diversity of ownership is, i think, in the communications act. it's an important principle and priority and it's something that i look forward to working on. the issues that you mentioned i think are examples of there are creative ways to tackle these issues that constantly need to be looked for.

i think your leadership on the lpfm issue is an example of. i'm not an expert in that. i look forward to learning more about that. but making sure that in connection overall with understanding uses of our spectrum, looking for ways to put more spectrum to work, to think about a wide dissemination of licenses in connection with that all seem to me to be high priorities and something that i look forward to working with you and the community on. >> okay. another area is, white spaces. opening up broadcast wide spaces to fixed wireless and personal portable devices. i know the commission took a very conservative start in opening up the white spaces but it was a start. will the office of engineering technology make sure that this is a priority issue so that we can have sufficient resources and working with the industry to test and make sure that we are answering any of the technical issues that might come up? >> senator, i think the answer

is, yes, and, in fact, i'm glad that you're mentioning another example of creative use of spectrum to advance the overall goals of the communications act. i'm energized by what's been happening around the country by mobile. we're seeing an incredibly number of mobile and the number has increased dramatically i think the current number is 270 million americans but even more important the number of americans who have smart phones. who have mobile phones with advanced applications on them is increasing. i believe that we have an opportunity for the u.s. to lead the world in mobile. some of that will require the ongoing creativity and the ideas of the sorts that you mentioned to take full advantage in this country of the opportunity that spectrum use allows. >> okay.

and a question about, obviously, competitive markets for broadband service. is there -- if there is a competitive market for broadband service where consumers could purchase broadband for multiple independent providers, would the discussion over net neutrality change? >> well, i think that the -- in a market of unlimited competition, it might change. the goal, as i see it of the net neutrality debate is to preserve the internet as the greatest platform for innovation and small business creation that we've ever had. more competition, more consumer choice would, of course, help achieve that and that would be an excellent thing. >> but, obviously, not -- i mean, the concern, obviously, is not to artificially segment off parts of the population and giving them a higher cost? so you see more compensation in broadband services? >> competition is clearly a goal

for the fcc and of the communications act and something i hope to pursue in the fcc. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you. are there any other questions, senator hutchison? >> i do. i wanted to ask one last question. we talked in my office about the so-called fairness doctrine. as i understood it, you said that you did not support reviving or policies like it directly or indirectly through localism and that sort of thing. and i just wanted to have for the record that i am correct in stating your position or if you would like to restate it. >> no, senator. i don't support reinstatement of the fairness doctrine. i believe strongly in the first amendment. i don't think the fcc should be involved in censorship of content based on political speech or opinion. >> thank you very much. thank you, mr. chairman.

>> senator klobuchar? >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. mr. genachowski, i mentioned i want to talk about one bill that i introduced. i don't want to spend much time on that. but i want your commitment that you're willing to work on us just estimates 90% of broadband installation is digging up the roads and if we can do it at the same time we have an open road because of federal highway projects we could save a lot of money. >> yes, senator. i'd love for the fcc to be a resource for you and senator warner in this idea and others. we're thinking about the communications infrastructure for the country for, you know, the next several decades. and some of it is a real infrastructure issue. and if we can deliver the best bang for the bucks for taxpayers by laying broadband lines at the same time that we're building highways i don't see why we'd want to explore that. >> another quick area is the e911 area.

i'm the cochair of the e-911 caucus. the good -- when we had our bridge collapse in our area right in the metropolitan area had done a very good job of interoperability because of our sheriff and others and i've seen difficulties in the past in some of our rural areas with that and it seems to me that's one of the areas of our nation's information infrastructure that may continue to elude us absent some federal action and federal involvement in terms of making our emergency services more int intraoperable. do you think that's something you would be willing to work on? >> very much so. my wife and i were not very far from the world trade center on 9/11. most of my family was in either new york or washington. none of us should be satisfied

with where we are on public safety. chairman rockefeller, who stepped out, others on the committee who have been leaders on this as one of your colleagues mentioned earlier, 9/11 commission urged the country to do something about public safety interoperability and we have to do it. it's just not acceptable that firefighters and police officers arrive at the scene of an emergency and can't communicate with each other and we have a new opportunity now that we need to seize, i think, as quickly as possible around mobile broadband. now that we're through the digital television transition, there's spectrum available for advanced mobile public safety applications for our first responders. i don't think we can move too quickly in tackling and it's something that i look forward to working with you on. it's very important >> yeah, we had a horrible shooting of a police officer once before we got better communications in our metropolitan area and literally the emergency personnel had seven different phone services and walkie-talkies and trying to

talk to each other while they were pursuing a suspect who had killed this cop. that's a nightmare. that's something i will never forget. i just came from a judiciary hearing on a competition in the wireless market and text area and senator rockefeller and i will introduce a bill on cell phone competition. it comes a long time from the movie wall street and gordon gecko had a huge cell phone and many don't have a l.a.n. line and while there have been vast improvements with early termination fees and others having driven around my state this weekend huge problems with dropped calls and consumer knowledge about what they're buying and if it really works in the areas they want to drive and work in. and could you comment about the fcc's role as a watchdog in this area? >> senator, i look forward to

working with you on this. i'm an optimist, a believer in the potential of mobile for our country for the u.s. to have world leadership in mobile at the same time, we need to make sure one and the fcc can work with you and the committee on doing this that we minimize confusion. that we maximize competition and choice. and that we do everything we can to deal with complaints that consumers have and respond to them effectively. >> thank you. and, you know, the complaint right now and this is why we had this hearing is just concerns about some of the prices right now. fcc website, you and i talked about this and how it used to be this model of development and innovation and now it's lagging behind. you want to talk briefly about what you'd like to do with that. >> senator, my goal would be to have the fcc website and its new media operation be a model for the rest of the government. the fcc should have that. it should be a 21st century

agency for the information age. i've been around this area enough to know i won't be able to snap my fingers on day one if i'm concerned and make it happen. it will take some time but the opportunities are great. to have all of the various constituencies and stakeholders interested in the fcc. ordinary consumers, businesses, academics around the area to be able to get online to get information easily to have it searchable and accessible. this is all achievable. i'd like to see the fcc achieve it. and i'd like to see the fcc be able to use new media to communicate clearly and in plain english with the public about what it's doing. >> thank you. now, of course, the question i really wanted to ask when senator schumer was here and we could pretend you were under oath was when he said that the credit card box that he really -- it should have been the genachowski box instead of the schumer box and i really

wanted to ask if he had ever offered you that. [laughter] >> but i chose not to do that. and because you had such a nice and positive hearing we won't end that way. thank you very much, mr. genachowski. >> thank you. anybody else have any questions? any other questions? mr. genachowski, thank you very, very much for your time here today and for making yourself available. i know you visited with many of us, if not all of us, privately in our offices and we appreciate that. and i also think something that others have alluded to is very true and that is this agency is extremely important and will really benefit from your leadership and your management style there. and i just think it's going to be a great era for the fcc. so thank you for your public service. and if there are no more questions, we'll excuse you and your family, if you guys would

like to stay, you can, but if you'd like to leave, that's completely up to you. i will say one last thing before you leave, is that we're asking all the senators who have follow-up questions to get those to you -- or get those to us by 6:00 pm today. and that's a good sign for you 'cause that means we're going to try to expedite your confirmation as much as possible. but that means that we would ask you to turn those around rather quickly. so thank you very much for your time. and i'm going to call up the second panel if the committee doesn't have anything else. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> as he is departing, the table there and as mr. mcdowell is coming forward with his family, there's going to be a little bit of a change here so we'll give everybody just a minute. [inaudible conversations]

>> the fcc should be a model for transparency, openness and

fairness. >> tonight, on the communicators, a discussion on julius genachowski, president obama's choice to lead the federal communications commission. with andrew feinberg of broadbandcensus.com >> what the fcc would look like under a new chairman tonight at 8:00 eastern on the communicators on c-span2. >> a discussion now on how legal and policy change can be achieved in washington. staff members from the white house and federal agencies gave their insights at a recent conference of the american constitution society. speakers include white house counsel greg greg and john podesta. this lasts about an hour and a half. >> it was like the perfect foil for all of us. >> good evening, everyone. if i could quiet the crowd,