WASHINGTON D.C. - Panel participants have been confirmed for the March 9th event, The Digital Age Communications Act: Towards a New Market-Oriented Communications Policy in 2006, hosted by The Progress & Freedom Foundation. The panel topics, all relevant to today's hot topic communications debates, will include federal-state relations and video franchising reform, network neutrality regulation, universal service reform, and spectrum reform. Keynotes at the event will include U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC), U.S. Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and former House Majority Leader Dick Armey.

Panelists from academia, the communications industry, and interest groups will discuss pertinent communications issues and topics dealt with by PFF's Digital Age Communications Act (DACA) Project. The Regulatory Framework panel, moderated by PFF Senior Fellow and Director of Communications Policy Studies Randolph May, will focus on the DACA competition-based regulatory framework's treatment of network neutrality. Participants include Jeff Eisenach, Chairman of The CapAnalysis Group, LLC; James Gattuso, Research Fellow in Regulatory Policy at The Heritage Foundation's Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies; Kyle McSlarrow, President and CEO of the National Cable and Telecommunications Association; Gigi Sohn, President of Public Knowledge; and James Speta, Professor at Northwestern University School of Law.

Discussion of the video franchising process will be at the heart of the panel "Reforming Federal-State Relations in the Digital Age," moderated by PFF Senior Fellow and Director of the Federal Institute for Regulatory Law and Economics Kyle Dixon. Participants will include Libby Beaty, Executive Director of the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors; Dan Brenner, Senior Vice President of Law and Regulatory Policy at the National Cable and Telecommunications Association; Brian Adkins, Legislative Director National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners; and Bruce Byrd, Vice President and General Counsel for AT&T's Washington Office.

The Spectrum Reform panel, moderated by Jim Miller of the Center for Study of Public Choice, will include PFF Senior Fellow and Vice President for Research Thomas Lenard; Tom Hazlett, Professor of Law and Economics George Mason University School of Law and Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute; Peter Pitsch, Communications Policy Director at Intel; and Lawrence White, Professor of Economics at New York University's Stern School of Business. Participants will discuss the first report of the DACA Project's Spectrum Working Group which proposes major changes to current spectrum policy. The paper will be released prior to the conference.

Participants for the Universal Service Discussion, moderated by Jonathan Nuechterlein, Partner at WilmerHale will include Gary Lytle, Vice President for Federal Policy and Law for Qwest Communications; Glenn Brown of Mclean & Brown; and Mark Rubin, Director of Federal Government Affairs for Alltel. Presenters for the panel inlcude Jerry Ellig, Senior Fellow at the Mercatus Center, George Mason University; Raymond Gifford, President of The Progress & Freedom Foundation; and Robert D. Atkinson, Vice President of the Progressive Policy Institute. The DACA Universal Service Working Group Proposal 2.0 will be discussed, along with the various USF reform strategies put forth by Congress.

Keynote addresses at the event will be given by policymakers active in promoting communications regulation reform. These include The Honorable Jim DeMint (R-SC), member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee; The Honorable Dick Armey, DACA Advisory Committee member, Co-Chair of FreedomWorks and former House Majority Leader; and The Honorable Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), member of the House Energy & Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet.

The event will be held on March 9th at the Capitol Hilton from 9:00am - 5:00pm, with a reception to follow. The Capitol Hilton is located at 1001 16th Street, NW in Washington, DC. To ensure a place, those wishing to attend should register online. Questions should be addressed to Eileen Goulding at 202-289-8928 or egoulding@pff.org. Media should direct queries to Amy Smorodin at 202-289-8928 or asmorodin@pff.org.

The Digital Age Communication Act (DACA) Project was launched in early 2005 with the intent of providing guidance for regulators and legislators on how to address regulatory issues in an era of competing digital services and platforms. DACA consists of dozens of individuals, including PFF fellows, scholars at other think tanks and universities, and public policy officials from the last five presidential administrations. There are five working groups -- Regulatory Framework, Federal/State Framework, Universal Service, Spectrum Policy, and Institutional Reform.

The Progress & Freedom Foundation is a market-oriented think tank that studies the digital revolution and its implications for public policy. It is a 501(c)(3) research & educational organization.