chairman genachowski. if you could try to limit your opening remarks to five minutes that will give us more time for questions, thanks. >> thank you very much. members who are here, i appreciate the opportunity to appear before you on the fcc 2013 budget. i'm proud to say that few if any federal agencies deliver a higher return on investment than the fcc. spectrum auctions have raised more than $50 billion for the u.s. treasury in the past two decades. economists regard the economic value created by fcc auctions as being about ten times that number about $500 million in value. a few weeks ago, congress authorized the fcc to conduct voluntary incentive auctions. a new market based mechanism to repurpose spectrum for flexible use such as mobile broadband. incentive auctions which i'm proud to say were originally suggested by the fcc two years ago are an opportunity to unleash vitally needed additional spectrum for mobile broadb

and i'm -- i'm curious, chairman genachowski, where in your governing statute does it say that the fcc is -- or has responsibility or the authority over campaign finance issues? i'm kind of confused by this. >> sure. congress in 2002 directed required broadcasters to disclose information about campaign ads, et cetera, that was a cod fiction of fcc rules that had been in effect for a long time and the statute provides orders to the fcc to carry out those provisions. but if i could, the issue that is raised in this proceeding is part of a broad effort to move from paper to digital. in fact, the suggestion in the proposal that was made in october which was based on a widely praised report from about a year ago identified the broadcaster public file as one of the last pieces of disclosure that was purely on paper. in fact, the files literally are in filing cabinets at tv stations. so the proposal in the notice was to enable the movement of all of that information from physical public files to digital. it's a proceeding that's open now. we're looking carefully at the record, and all of the

. >> host: chairman genachowski has talked about putting more information about political ads online. do you support that? >> guest: you know, i'm troubled by that because i'm an old radio broadcaster. not in the business now, been out of it since december of '07, but the disclosure piece best wrongs at the organization -- belongs at the organization that's in charge of that, and that's the federal elections commission. if you wallet to know about contributions and expenditures, that's where that fight belongs, other there. we've dealt with this that they want to make the broadcaster the keeper of all this data, and i think there's probably a way to put your public file online. the notion that it's going to save stations money tells you how bad the practice of economics is in this town. i was a broadcaster. i know you have to have somebody come in and scan all that. how do you do that other the weekend, put it online and all that? you're picking the wrong target, i think. you already have to have disclosure. it's already in your public file, so i'd leave it the way it is. >> as an old

chairman genachowski, please tell us about your connect to compete initiative and update us on how this effort to increase internet accessibility to disadvantaged families is working. you know, this is an issue that continues to trouble many of us and it's really a bipartisan thing. we've grown and we've grown in the internet and all these other gadgets we have and everything and yet we still manage to leave some folks behind. and that's not right. that's not right anywhere. we're not the best in the world -- we're the best in the world as a country. we're not the best at including everybody in these new technologies. so what are we doing? >> about a third of americans who could have broadband don't. as you indicate in a world where for example job postings have moved almost completely online and job applications are in almost all cases required to be submitted online not having access to broadband is a very big deal. the percentages that i mentioned are highest in particular communities from rural americans the elderly, minority communities. there are a number of different reasons for

i think it's high on the agenda of the commission and i think chairman genachowski and my college down there are very aware of the fact that this is a huge, huge challenge. we are just using up warrant more spectrum so we have to find better use. there is no silver bullet and we have to be moving on all these friends. >> host: you mentioned the spectrum auctions. do you see -- for see them taking place in their future and if they took place let's say today how long before that spectrum would be on? >> guest: i think it did take a while. they are not going to take place right away and i hope the commission will do everything it can to expedite them. but again we don't want to see that is just some kind of silver bullet solution. let's go and take a whole bunch of spectrum from the consolidating media and turn it over to a big consolidating telecommunications. that does not necessarily translate into automatic enhancement of the public interest so we have to be careful. again we have to be careful about is they're going to be some opportunity for competition? are we going to have a desig

i think it's high on the agenda of the commission, and i think chairman genachowski and the colleagues down there are very aware of the fact that this is, it's a huge, huge challenge. we are just using up more and more spectrum, so we have to find better uses. there is no silver bullet, there's no one approach that's going to solve it that we have to be moving on all of these fronts. >> host: well, you mentioned the spectrum auctions. do you foresee them taking place in the near future, and if they took place, let's say today, how long before that spectrum would be on the line? >> guest: well, i think that could take a while, and you say the near future, they're not going to take place right away. i hope the commission will do everything it can to expedite it, but, again, we don't want to see that as some sort of silver bullet solution. i'm not comfortable saying let's take a whole bunch of spectrum and take it from big, consolidate media and turn it over to communications. so we have on the careful. again, we have to be careful about is there going to be some opportunity for competiti

. >> chairman genachowski has talked about putting more information about political ads online. do you support that? >> i'm not in the business now but out of it since december of 07. the disclosure peace best belongs in an organization that's in charge of that and that is the federal elections commission so if you want to know that contributions and expenditures that's where that fight belongs is over there if on the reform they want to make the broadcaster now the keeper of all the data and print all that stuff online and there's probably a way to put your public final online the reason it is going to save stations money tells you how bad the practice of economics is in this town. i was a broadcaster to i know you have to have somebody come in and stammerich. how do you do that over the weekend or put on long and all that, you are taking the wrong target i think. you have to have public disclosure in your file so i would leave it the way it is. islamic as a broadcaster as it is i wanted to ask about two issues frequently. rush limbaugh and the sandra initio and also the l.a. c

the fcc is scheduled to vote april 27th and this past monday its chairman julius genachowski walked into the line. the annual get-together, the national association of broadcasters in his speech he cited a letter from the deans of several leading journalism schools who said, "broadcast news organizations depend on and consistently call for robust open record regimes for the institutions they cover. it seems hypocritical for broadcasters to oppose applying the same principles to themselves." we'll link you to his entire remarks. in fact, we now have a special area on our website, campaign ad, dedicated to keeping the story of political advertising and all the big often secret money pours into it front and center. you can share your opinion on the idea of super pac ads on public television, what do you think? let me know. i'll be reading. >>> that's it for now. see you next time. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> funding is provided by carnegie corporation of new york celebrating 100 years of philanthropy and doing good in the world. the coalberg foundation, independent production