, that lowers costs, expands choice, and does not bankrupt each other were our country. it doesn't have to be divisive or partisan. 2010artisan issue came in and was a nor. -- ignored. i can -- i believe we can agree on 80% of the issue hundred percent of the time. i believe we should go about improving our health care system. the 80% rule is not about compromise. when you compromise, both sides give up something they believe in and we end up with something no one believes in. on commont agreeing ground. by leaving out part of it for a later solution, we have to stop dealmaking and start legislating.

too often, the solutions offered to fix our nations problems behind closed doors by a few people and prevent -- presented as the only option. a bill written and passed without a single republican away fromeed to get trying to do everything comprehensively. it usually means incomprehensible. the larger it gets, the harder it is for people to understand and agree. this is especially true when we -- true and we try to pass bills no one can -- when you pass partisan bills, you get partisan results. no party has all the good ideas. can make sure the result is something that not only works but moves the country forward in a responsible way. we still need healthcare reform but it has to be the right way. the federal government should be willing to report viable reforms and also refrain from

handcuffing, innovative design with excessive regulations or narrow political interests. on common focus sense, step-by-step reforms, to protect the americans access from the doctors they choose at a lower cost, providing americans with access to high- quality of 40 healthcare. on thellenges we faced country will not be easily addressed. a morepproach in practical rather than political way, we should be able to make things better. thank you and god bless. >> next, on c-span, the communicators. then, we continue our focus on first ladies with a look he find

the scenes of residential marriages. later, president obama. >> c-span, created by america's capable of -- cable companies in 1979. , in the -- interviewers from the cable show in washington dc, including a look at the issues facing the we will also hear about the media bureau with bill lake. >> a managing director at bank of america merrill lynch. what do you do? >> i cover media cable andainment and

satellite. >> we are bullish on cable. -into the home with multiple services. obviously, initially, it was this video, and that has become most importantly broadband but also voice. onling out other services top of that, like home monitoring. they could be things like managing the thermostat, or a nanny cam, etc. there are new services rolling out on that platform. video,s also rolling out voice, and data. are seeing cable plans leveraged in many ways. another separate investment .4 cable is that the industry,

finally, after years and years, has become free cash flow positive. over the last three or four years, we have seen significant return of capital to shareholders, mostly through buybacks but also through dividends. gigantic change for the industry. >> when did that occur? >> in the last five years, we have seen the industry go earnings positive. the cable name a misnomer anymore? >> there is still cable but it is a multiservice landform and we will see see more and more of that. a will see at this convention -- you arevancement buying tv.

[indiscernible] i cannot tell you how many times i had to search for homeland. it will make a very a inference for what it does revenue. this is a big opportunity. gainingable operators customers? click they are losing customers, losing video customers, competitors, whether it is satellite or cell phone. speculation, intel is about to come out with a new product with over-the-top hype and video

services. in terms of broadband, cable has .een gaining market share in most countries, they have a far superior product than anything else offered. because thening incumbent with the telephone companies, -- there is also a significant amount, 35% wireless. it is way more than cable. cable has been gaining at a slower clay -- case. -- pace. they have been given pretty significant market share. >> when you look at comcast, they have the network and cable

operator, cable provider, and a network. is that business model a future? every company has a different approach. comcast bought nbc. there was a lot of discussion, were they doing the right thing or not? it did not work for other companies. time warner spun out there cable, aol, music, spinning out publishing, it did not work. they have a different personality and different culture. in the case of comcast, our subjective view it -- is that it is over extremely well. they have strong mitigation throughout the country -- company. -- strong communications throughout the country -- company. it is a very good deal structure. they bought it at a very good time when advertising was extreme the week. a big revenue generator for the network. for the broadcasters.

timing, price structure. nbc, it is a distant performer. it is getting better. it is far from where it should and could be. nbc universal is media. comcast is getting virtually no credit. in our analysis, if comcast trades with one of the other cable operators, the value for nbc universal is somewhere between five dollars and eight dollars per comcast chair. if they do a great job, then over the next two years, this could be worth $20 a share. if they execute flawlessly, perfectly, maybe $30. it muddles along. this option investors have, our he knows the industry

.ell he has strong management under him. they know what they need to do to fix the businesses. each one of those businesses has huge upside. >> you see a potential product coming out onto the market. what are your thoughts? >> it is not for me to opine on whether area oh is legal or not. aereo is legal or not. it is the money people get her the signal to operators. we are in the third round. $.50.rst round, $.40 to the second round was put to a dollar.

in our view, the broadcasters will ultimately get -- in the .ext round, a two dollar range it is another big step up. it provides great crow ramming. -- programming. it is hard to believe area oh is aereo is legal. a game not think it is changer at this point for the pay-tv industry. from a broadcasting perspective, we follow entertainment. we do not believe there is a risk they will lose transition revenue from area. >> the technology is safe. >> there is tons of technology, people do not watch blank screens.

there are a lot of challenges and loads of technology challenges and have been for years. providing programming, you need to have the rights, it is legal. can you skip ads and take programming in a virtual coin toss? there are tons and tons of destructive technologies that may or may not be illegal. was talkingin about cable bill once again. is that a disrupter? >> it does not seem like there is a lot of support. i would be more worried about a programmers perspective. the programmers do not want to unbundle, have their networks unbundled. they do not want to sell individual networks. you are if i come and you have 15 networks, how many operators are taken to

nickelodeon? a risk for all programmers and a risk for pay- tv as well. is both sides. it is not like one side is rooting for olla cart and the other is not. it is a big risk for anybody. how many people would actually pay a lot for sports? i do not know the answer for that. >> is there a chance it will go through? >> it does not feel that way. >> when you look at horizon and think about the future of tv, what do you see? >> whether it is tv everywhere, the multiple devices many of us and many of these disruptive technologies like haster, or facebook, it

made the television experience better. it has made a difference. a lot of what is going on in the social networking universe is all about what is on tv. it has made people closer and more involved in shows that there is more to it and there are ways to catch up. historically, what would be inmal would be 3, 4, or five the show and that it would come down and people lose interest. instead, what we see is in many shows, in year 3, 4, and five, the viewership is going up. whether it is netflix or video- on-demand, they are catching up. people are talking about homeland. it is season two. season two is better than season one. any, walking dead or madmen. any show. historically, you would lose audience is.

an amazing -- technology has been an enabler -- amazing enabler. viewing time has gone up her home from five or six hours a day to over eight hours. it is not per person but her home. that is an expounding -- astounding amount of television people are watching. a great product, and american companies, a big universe and a big single company. programming tends to get -- there is a lot of money in that. .s americans, we love our tv it is a very profitable industry on a global basis. >> how did you get started?

>> a small company and a small boutique. >> were you interested in the cable industry or did they assign you to it? >> i was hired by a guy who covered entertainment. had i been hired by the guy who covered auto, i would not be an analyst today. it was a lot of luck. it evolved. when i started covering cable, it was really mall. it was very different. people could not see television and could not get clear signals. mtv, the demographics have changed cable television. younger people want to watch

channels and we will see the same thing with broadband. broadband penetration in the u.s., depending on what statistic you take, high-speed data is 50% plus overtime. 85 or 90%s it will be overtime. >> what are some of the storm clouds potential? programming is scary. it is a bad term line. there are three drivers of programming cost inflation. theansmission consent, cash started getting paid to broadcasters in the last five or .even years

it is at a new cost and a growing cost. cost has gotten completely insane. the third driver is just normal. we see companies that really deliver and invest in programming. budget wentogram from $500 billion less than five years ago to 1 billion and one dollars. it was a different company.

our view is they will get different price increases. simply because they delivered very high-quality programming, multiple channels, whether it is discovery discovery, tlc, animal planet, science, military channel, all in the oprah winfrey network, etc.. >> how closely do you watch as an analyst? >> it can be a very a deal at the time. -- big deal at the time. stimulated theh industry to invest, in the end, that was a bear -- positive. fast high-speed data is getting faster and faster. -- beenindustry in

regulated, the investment would have been lower. there was a loophole. and it closed a loophole was disastrous. fcc has been a big benefit to the industry. it has been a massive amount of investment. >> one of the things we have talked about is the issue of [indiscernible] working their way through right now. what are your thoughts? >> we will see what happens. hopefully, the providers of i amband have generally --

not a regulator. it feels like they are not saving their own networks. i should not opine. broadband, there are many flavors and prices. consumers have options. lower prices for lower speeds, higher prices for higher speeds. generally, when offered the choice, if someone can't afford it, they will always pay with a high-speed. there are many flavors and many options out there. i think it is why the regulating touch has been so different. >> is there a danger in getting too close to the people you -- is there a danger in

getting too close to the company's? recover them for 20 years or 30 years. we were not able to give it an honest appraisal. it is a lot of what happened in the past. people can see through that. investors see through that. there is really no value. objective and call it as we see it.

it is not a pleasant experience to go through. >> a lot of people are cutting the cord. have the cable companies been able to take advantage? qwest cable is offering more wi- fi and more hotspots. ,o get really high-speed wi-fi you need a fixed line wire somewhere. it gives us mobility. --do not see while this wireless broadband as a substitution for wireline. >> with bank of america and merrill lynch managing director, you are watching the communicators on c-span. >> we want to introduce you to william wake, the media bureau chief of the federal

communications commission. get a chance to meet somebody behind the scenes. what is the media bureau and what do you do? >> part of the ,ommission with mixed policy the electronic media, broadcast, television, and the cable industry. >> what of what -- what is one of your issues? >> one of the big issues is the incentive auction, to enable some of the broadcasters to surrender their spectrum voluntarily so it can auction carriers. wire it is something we have never done before. it is taking a lot of activity. >> the professional staff at the media bureau, will it happen in 2014? are you ready for it? >> we are on schedule. it is something the media bureau is doing with the other bureaus. we think we are on schedule. to have the rules adopted this work withblack do you

congress closely on those rules and the adoption? >> we work very closely with congress and follow their loss. a proposal we made requires their legislation. we are watching what they do and mostly urging to make sure we keep up our self-imposed deadline. >> it is june, 2000 13 that we are taping this interview. where are you now? have gone through all the public, and processes. we are now in the process of formulating rules we will send up to the commission with the hope they will vote on it toward the end of the year. , how often do you meet with the commissioners on where you are? >> i meet with each of the commissioners every two weeks at least. >> we report where we stand regularly. -- --ly the june meeting,

>> you have to meet? >> they do not need more than two at a time. one of the things we are spending a lot of time on, congress passed a statute to make electronic media more accessible to people with various handicaps. are tackling something that is the last steps in the process to try to make programs with a unit -- user interface. acceptable to those visually impaired. a talking program guide. but, a simple concept gated as a technical matter to implicate -- and clement. -- implement. we just put out a notice and then we get more, as an informal the affected disability groups. >> one of the issues you are , how have cable

rates gone up in the last five years? how much, and is there a limit to where they can go? issued an annual report and what we found was consistent with what we found in recent years. the average price most people subscribe to it and used to go up six percent in the last year. per channel has gone down in recent years. consumers are getting more channels and paying mostly the package. i do not know if that is good or bad. it is not our job to report on it at the moment. >> your job is to report how they are right. >> we are interested in watching the program and generally cable because it is a consumer issue. in this instance, we are reporting so we will know what is happening. >> as the media bureau chief at the fcc, are there some laws that have become outdated because of changing technology?

we do it congress tells us to do. the last major overhaul was 1996, before the internet was a major phenomenon and all the changes going on in the video market. many people in congress think it might be time to revisit the law. in the meantime, we implement the law we have. >> has your work slow down because there are only three commissioners? >> no, in particular, the schedule for the incentive auction, we are continuing. i do not know whether that will be voted on by this commission. it is a three-member commission or after we get the two additional members. we want to serve it up. ?> what is your background >> i am a lawyer. most of my career, i practice law in washington. this is my fourth time in the federal government. i have gone in and out several times. >> your second time at the fcc? came in in 2009 at the

beginning of the obama administration to oversee the final stages of the broadcast institution and stayed on as chief. two jobs, one time as a commissioner. >> are we render it -- letter to put a period? mostly. we are trying to work those through. yes, i think so. the broadcast industry has to keep evolving like all the other media industries. they are now considering a possible new, digital tv standard to replace the one that was adopted when we did the first transition. the change is inevitable in all the media industries. >> with so many people now watching video on wireless devices or computers, the traditional television model has changed. does that make it difficult for regulations need to be

adapted to fit that? >> we try to adapt our regulations to the marketplace, within the four quarters of the statues we -- statutes. >> a chance to meet somebody behind-the-scenes, william lake >> c-span, created by america's cable companies in 1979, routes you as a public service by your television provider. >> friday, the justice department released new guidelines for conducting leak investigations for journalists. the department obtained personal phone records of the associated press. they said these