Hatch Statement on FCC decision to postpone set-top box vote
Senator Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the senior member and former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued the following statement on the FCC’s decision to postpone the vote on FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s controversial set-top box proposal:
“I am glad the FCC decided to remove the divisive cable set-top box plan from the Commission’s September Open Meeting agenda. I have repeatedly expressed my deep concerns about the FCC’s approach in the proposed set-top box plan,” Hatch said. “The proposal was clearly premature and left many questions unresolved regarding the proper role of the FCC and its jurisdiction over issues related to content licensing and copyright.”
Senator Hatch, along with many of his House and Senate colleagues, has been highly critical of the proposal. On September 9, 2016, Senator Hatch issued the following statement after Chairman Wheeler published an op-ed in the LA Times in support of the set-top box plan:
“I am troubled by FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's approach to the proposed set-top box plan,” Hatch said. “By establishing itself as the arbiter of licensing terms, the FCC appears to be both setting up an unlawful compulsory licensing scheme and overstepping its jurisdictional bounds by involving itself into copyright law where it lacks expertise or authority. I urge Chairman Wheeler to continue to seek the views of the Copyright Office to ensure his proposal does not conflict with copyright law.”
This past May, Senator Hatch also expressed his opposition to the FCC’s set-top box plan during a Judiciary Subcommittee hearing where Chairman Wheeler was a witness. Additionally, last May, Senator Hatch also authored a letter to Chairman Wheeler expressing concerns about the proposal, which can be found here.
