Congress Investigating Alleged Problems With Martin's Management Of The FCC

from the what's-really-going-on-at-the-FCC dept

It looks like some folks in Congress are beginning to question Kevin Martin's leadership at the FCC. Rep. John Dingell, along with some other Representatives sent a strongly worded letter to Martin demanding he hand over an awful lot of information, including memos, emails, notes and schedules pertaining to a variety of different things. The letter itself (pdf) notes that they're investigating Martin based on "credible" allegations concerning how the FCC has been run under Martin. While the letter details what Dingell is asking for, it doesn't shed too much light on exactly what the allegations are -- so we'll just have to wait and see what comes out down the road.

Filed Under: congress, fcc, investigation, kevin martin

Why Is Kevin Martin's Opinion On Net Neutrality Different When It's Comcast Than AT&T?

from the just-wondering dept

FCC chair Kevin Martin is well-known as a good friend to telco companies -- but that friendship has never extended to cable companies. That's why it's rather amusing to see him try to act tough against Comcast, suggesting last Friday that the FCC doesn't look kindly on Comcast's traffic shaping practices while just a year ago, he was telling AT&T that the FCC wouldn't stop them from doing the same thing, if AT&T decided it was necessary "for business reasons." Can anyone give a reasonable explanation (other than outright favoritism) for why Martin would hold cable companies to a different standard than telcos?

Filed Under: fcc, kevin martin, net neutrality
Companies: at&t, comcast

Congress Investigating FCC Practices, Questions Of Favoritism

from the whoops dept

There certainly have been a lot of questions concerning favoritism on FCC chair Kevin Martin's part. He has consistently been for regulating cable while deregulating telcos. He clearly has a very close relationship with the telcos, and never seems to question their motives. That came to a head last month when Martin pushed forward plans to cap cable growth despite serious questions about the FCC's authority in the matter (as well as questions about cherry picking statistics to support his case). It seems that all of that has now caught the attention of Congress, who is going to launch an investigation of the FCC's rulemaking process, and examine accusations of favoritism. Seeing as this is a Congressional investigation, it's likely to be a lot more grandstanding than anything substantial. However, at the very least, it looks like Congress is making it clear to Martin that he may have pushed his luck one too many times.

Filed Under: congress, favoritism, fcc, kevin martin

Congress Looks To Close Kevin Martin's Loophole For Regulating Cable

from the not-so-fast,-kiddo dept

Last month we noted how amusing it was that supposedly "anti-regulation" FCC chair Kevin Martin suddenly turned "pro-regulation" when it came to cable companies -- the arch enemies of Martin's buddies in the telcos. For years, Martin has hoped that he could force cable companies to offer a la carte programming, which was really a move to help push "family friendly" programming. Of course, the problem was that the FCC doesn't have regulatory control over cable systems. It was designed to regulate the public airwaves, not the private cable lines. However, there was a loophole found in the 1934 Communications Act, that would give the FCC the right to regulate cable if two conditions were met: it was available to 70% of the population, and 70% of those who had it available subscribed. Martin has used that loophole to push for regulations -- but there's plenty of disagreement as to whether or not the numbers really pass the 70/70 rule. For example, the FCC's own numbers pin the number at only 54%. Martin chose someone else's numbers to get his necessary 70%. Either way, though, he still hasn't given a good reason for why the FCC should regulate cable.

While the debate on this issue continues, some folks in Congress are looking to make the whole thing meaningless anyway, by taking away Martin's loophole. They want to amend the Communications Act to remove the 70/70 provision. This seems reasonable, as it appears that Martin is only looking to regulate for political reasons. What's not clear from the article is whether or not the support is there to pass this change to the Act. Tragically, it may depend on who politicians are more in bed with: the telcos or the cable cos.

Filed Under: cable, fcc, kevin martin, marsha blackburn, regulations

People Still Get Their News From Local Newspapers And TV Stations?

from the massive-overreaction dept

I don't understand why people get so worked up about the FCC's various proposals to tweak the rules regarding how many TV stations and newspapers one company can own. The ownership of local newspapers and TV stations was important in the 20th century, when people only had a handful of choices on where to get their news. Local newspaper and broadcast television stations are becoming one small corner of a vastly larger media universe that includes dozens of cable television stations, thousands of news sites, and millions of blogs and podcasts. Nowadays, the real question isn't whether local newspapers and TV stations have too much influence; the question is whether anyone would notice if they disappeared.

Which brings us to FCC chairman Kevin Martin's New York Times op-ed defending his remarkably timid proposal to allow a newspaper in one of the 20 largest cities to purchase a TV or radio station—but not one of the metro area's four largest TV stations. Under his proposal, none of the FCC's other media ownership rules would be changed. In other words, a newspaper would be allowed to buy an also-ran TV station in a cacophonous media market like New York or LA, but the vast majority of cities would see no changes at all. Yet some members of Congress seem to think that even those miniscule changes are too much and have introduced legislation to require the FCC to spend even more time debating the issue, even though, as James Gattuso points out, that the FCC has been debating the issue for 11 years already. On the other hand, as ridiculous as the situation is, it's hard to have too much sympathy for the broadcasters. After all, they were happy to raise bogus fears of media concentration to stop the XM/Sirius merger this spring. Now the broadcasters are getting a taste of their own medicine.

Filed Under: fcc, kevin martin, media ownership, newspaper
Companies: congress, fcc

Funny How Anti-Regulation Telco Buddy Kevin Martin Is Pro-Regulation When It Comes To Cable

from the should-have-sang-happy-birthday-louder dept

December's almost here, and with it, comes FCC chair Kevin Martin's birthday (December 14th, for those who care). This might not seem like a big deal to many, but it was just a couple years ago that a bunch of telco execs got together to sing Martin happy birthday just as he announced a bunch of policy positions that seemed to support the telcos' every wish. What's most amazing is that whenever he's pushed on telco issues, Martin likes to claim that he's against regulations -- but when it comes to companies that the telcos compete with, he's suddenly much more open to regulations. So, it should come as no surprise that the cable companies (who apparently forgot to send Martin a birthday cake) are about to wake up to a different world order, as Martin plans to make use of a loophole in the law to start regulating the cable companies -- including putting serious restrictions on growth. Now, there's no denying that the cableco's have a cushy position, which they all too often abuse. However, especially with the rise of satellite TV and IPTV, more competition is reaching the market. In the end, this move sounds like not just a way for Martin to hurt the cable companies, but also a way for him finally to force them to offer a la carte channel choices, a favorite of Martin's for years, not because of the importance of more choice, but because it could lead to more family friendly programming. It could very well be that regulation makes the most sense for the cable industry -- but it's hard to see how Martin can claim equal treatment of his friends in the telco industry, who he lets merge with abandon, while telling the cable companies they can't do the same.

Filed Under: cable, fcc, kevin martin, regulations
Companies: comcast, fcc, time warner

FCC Says Fairness Doctrine Not Needed

from the indeed dept

We don't always agree with FCC chair Kevin Martin -- and there are plenty of times that we find his positions laughable or disturbing -- but he's certainly correct when he says there's simply no need for the reinstatement of "The Fairness Doctrine," which would require broadcasters to give "equal time" to the opposition on controversial topics. Of course, that makes the incorrect assumption that controversial issues have two (and only two) sides, which is rarely the case. It also ignores the huge increase in outlets for anyone to get their views across. However, some politicians have been pushing hard to reinstate the doctrine, which actually feels a lot more like media restrictions than anything to get a message out. As some have pointed out, those who can't get heard shouldn't rely on some unnecessary fairness doctrine to get their message across. They should learn to formulate a better message.

Filed Under: fairness doctrine, kevin martin
Companies: fcc