TAUZIN, A BROADCASTER'S FRIEND, TAKES ON THE PRESIDENT Monday, April 09 05:34 p.m.
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin on Monday made it clear that his ties to the broadcasting business may well outstrip his loyalty to George W. Bush. The allegiance-dividing issue is the administration's plan to impose a costly spectrum fee on commercial television broadcasters -- a plan detailed in Bush's April 9 budget proposal. Under the Bush plan -- which Tauzin called a "terrible idea" -- broadcasters would pay the lease fee until they give up the analog spectrum and transmit exclusively in digital TV. The prospect of Republican-led revenue-raising on the backs of TV stations has sent one of Washington's lead lobbies, the National Association of Broadcasters, into a lobbying frenzy. Underlining the organization's mind-meld with Tauzin, NAB communications executive Jeffrey Bobeck called the fees, well, a "terrible idea." "This isn't the first time spectrum fees have been proposed and it won't be the last time," said Bobeck. "We'll fight them every time."