. >> host: so recently rick boucher who's head of the house internet subcommittee sent a letter to you guys saying he thought we should have 50 megabits per second to 80% of homes in about five years. what do you think of that, do you think that's i chief bl? >> guest: -- achievable? >> guest: well, there are a number of different parameters. his letter said actual speed as opposed to advertise thed speed, and that makes a big difference. >> host: doesn't that make it even harder? >> guest: well, if you have it be actual, it is harder. i think that's a very worthy goal the, but i think what we want to point out to decision makers like the congressman is, yeah, that's great. if we think we have a path for doing it, here's a path, but if that path requires congress to act in a certain way or the fcc to act in a certain way, here's what they need to do. so, you know, i think it's very worthy to kind of state, kind of stretch goals and see what we can do to try to get there. but, again, broadband is primarily a function of private investment. the big news the -- in terms of wireless over t

rick boucher, be yielded 10 minutes of my time and that he be allowed to control that time. i yield myself such time as i may consume. and i ask the house to be in order, please. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. conyers: madam speaker and members, h.r. 3570 extends the compulsory copyright license for satellite television providers for another five years as congress has done in each of the last two other cycles that this measure has been re-authorized. this is an important intellectual property law and will also make a number of critical updates and much needed clarifications to the compulsory copyright licenses for both satellite and cable television. passage of this legislation before the end of the year is crucial. we must pass this bill in both bodies by december 31. and if we don't pass this bill, thousands of -- upon thousands of satellite television subscribers will lose their signals. in addition to simply re-authorizing the license, the bill ambitiously tackles several other issues for consumers. for content owners, and cable and satellite companies a

. >> so recently are rick boucher, head of the house subcommittee released a letter to you guys sayingght we should have 50 meg megabits per second to 80% of homes in about five years. what do you think of that? do you think that's achievable? >> there are a number of different parameters. for example, his letter said actual speed as opposed to advertised speed. that makes a big difference. again, as we talked about in our september meeting. >> doesn't it make it even harder? >> if it you have it the actual, it is harder. one of the things we want to do -- i think that's a worthy goal but what we want to point out to the decision makers like the congressmen is that, yeah, that's great. if we think we have a path for doing it, here is a path, but if that path requires congress to act in a certain way or the f.c.c. to act in a certain way, here is what they need to do, so you know, i think it's very worthy to kind of stay kind of stretch goals and see what we can do to try to get there, but, again, broadband is primarily a function of private investment. the big news in terms of fixed wi

rick boucher chairs the subcommittee.m earlier this month, this is about two hours, 15 minutes. >> subcommittee will come to order. this morning, the subcommittee convenes a legislative hearing on two measures related to the availability of the wireless spectrum, which is essential to meeting our future needs for mobile communications services. the movements of personal communications 2 mobile services is both dramatic and exhilarating. earlier this year, it was announced that for the first time the number of homes having only a cell phone and no land line service now exceeds the number of homes having only a landline had no cellular services. at the end of 2008, there were approximately 270 million wireless subscribers in the nation, including an estimated 40 million active users of mobile internet services. daly, do attractive and useful applications are added to wireless services, and data rates continue to increase as consumers require faster access to mobile communications. as more americans use data instances more p

. >> so recently are rick boucher, head of the house subcommittee released a letter to you guys saying he thought we should have 50 meg megabits per second to 80% of homes in about five years. what do you think of that? do you think that's achievable? >> there are a number of different parameters. for example, his letter said actual speed as opposed to advertised speed. that makes a big difference. again, as we talked about in our september meeting. >> doesn't it make it even harder? >> if it you have it the actual, it is harder. one of the things we want to do -- i think that's a worthy goal but what we want to point out to the decision makers like the congressmen is that, yeah, that's great. if we think we have a path for doing it, here is a path, but if that path requires congress to act in a certain way or the f.c.c. to act in a certain way, here is what they need to do, so you know, i think it's very worthy to kind of stay kind of stretch goals and see what we can do to try to get there, but, again, broadband is primarily a function of private investment. the big news in terms of