House Schedules FirstNet Oversight Hearing

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The House Communications Subcommittee has scheduled a
hearing, "Oversight of the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet) and
Emergency Communications," on March 14.

The hearing will look at the current status of the network,
which was created by FCC broadcast incentive auction legislation and will be
funded by the auctions.

Witnesses will come from both the private sector and
FirstNet representatives.

"Last Congress we took concrete steps to
improve emergency communications when we passed the Middle Class Tax Relief and
Job Creation Act," said Subcommittee chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) in a
statement. "This hearing will provide oversight to ensure that both public
safety officials and the public have access to effective, open lines of
communication during an emergency."

John Eggerton
John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.