HENRY GELLER. Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.A., 14 February 1924. University of Michigan, B.S. 1943; J.D. Northwestern Law School. Law clerk, Illinois Supreme Court Justice Walter V. Schaffer, 1950; attorney, Federal Communications Commission (FCC), 1949-50, 1952-55, and 1961-73; general counsel, FCC, 1964; special assistant to the chair, 1970; helped write the cable television rules and the definitive explication of the Fairness Doctrine, 1972; at Rand Corp. worked on projects concerning communications law, 1973-74; Communications Fellow with the Aspen Institute Program on Communications and Society, 1975; consultant to the House Communications Subcommittee, 1976; assistant secretary for Communications and Information and Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), U.S. Department of Commerce, functioned as chief adviser to President Carter on telecommunications policy, 1978-81; founder and director of the Washington Center for Public Policy Research, 1981-89; professor (of practice) Duke University, 1981-89; communications fellow, John and Mary R. Markle Foundation, 1990-; senior fellow, Annenberg Washington Program, 1991-96. Recipient, National Service Award, 1970. Address: 1750 K St., N.W., Suite 800, Washington, DC 20006.

PUBLICATIONS (selection)

The Fairness Doctrine in Broadcasting. Santa Monica, California: Rand, 1973.

Newspaper-Television Station Cross Ownership: Options for Federal Action, with Walter s. Baer and Joseph A. Grundfest. Santa Monica, California: Rand, 1974

A Modest Proposal to Reform the Federal Communications Commission. Santa Monica, California: Rand, 1974.

The Mandatory Origination Requirement for Cable Systems. Santa Monica, California: Rand, 1974.

Charging for Spectrum Use, with D. Lambert. Washington: Benton Foundation, 1989.

"Looking Not Far Into the Future." Society (New Brunswick, New Jersey), July-August 1989.

"Baby Bells as Information Servers." New York Times, 27 November 1991.

Fibre Optics: An Option for a New Policy. Washington, D.C.: Annenberg Washington Program: Communication Policy Studies, Northwestern University, 1991.

Jessell, Harry A. "The Government Can't Do Quality...At All" (Interview). Broadcasting and Cable (Washington, D.C.) 15 August 1994.

"Fairness and the Public Trustee Concept: Time to Move On." Federal Communications Law Journal (Los Angeles), October 1994.

FURTHER READING

"Regulation, Deregulation and the Future of Communication Policy: At New York Seminar, Media Watchers Assess the Regulatory Climate." Broadcasting (Washington, D.C.) 21 November 1988.

"Turmoil Over Takeovers: The Subject of Takeovers--Long Simmering on Washington Burners--Came to a Boil Last Week." Broadcasting (Washington, D.C.), 15 July 1985.

 

See also National Telecommunications and Information Administration

 

 

   

Henry Geller is a Washington, D.C. telecommunications attorney and law professor with a distinguished career in United States communications policy making and regulation. He worked at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) at several intervals from 1949 until 1973, serving as General Counsel for six years (1964-70) and then becoming Assistant to FCC Chairman Dean Burch. He later served as Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for three years (1978-81) during the Carter presidency. His contributions to national telecommunications policy making led to the National Civil Service Award in 1970.

Geller has since served as a telecommunications advisor for a number of non-governmental organizations, including Duke University's Washington Center for Public Policy Research, the Rand Corporation, and the Markle Foundation. His advice on policy matters was solicited because of his experience as a Washington telecommunications insider, and because of his iconoclastic views on communications spectrum issues.

Geller has long espoused that the electromagnetic spectrum allocated for telecommunications purposes is a finite national resource and that fees should be collected from all users of that spectrum. In 1979, while at the NTIA, Geller first broached the idea of auctioning spectrum for then-new technologies such as cellular telephony and wireless cable (MMDS). Free users of this resource such as radio and television broadcasters were adamantly opposed to such proposals, claiming that they were serving the public interest by providing news and other informative programming.

Geller felt that broadcasters, especially at the local level, had neglected their public-interest programming obligations, and that the FCC should eliminate all "public fiduciary" regulation in favor of a fee-for-spectrum arrangement. The benefits of such a system, as Geller described it, would involve an end to the lack-luster provision of public affairs and children's programming, and would allow the public, rather than the buyers and sellers of existing broadcast licenses, to benefit from spectrum auctions. He proposed that funds raised from spectrum auctions be dedicated to the development of public broadcasting services--much like the traditional British model of public support for national programming.

The irony of Geller's position on spectrum auctions is that the FCC now conducts such auctions for emerging communications technologies such as Personal Communications Services (PCS). However, the revenues collected will be allocated for federal deficit reduction instead of supporting public broadcasting. Henry Geller is a well-informed critic of the status quo in telecommunications policy making, and the recent adoption of the spectrum auctions in the United States reaffirms a position that he has long advocated for the benefit of the public, rather than private, interest.

-Peter B. Seel