FCC Boss May Be In Hot Water
Congress recently started investigating FCC boss Kevin Martin, sending him a letter (pdf) last month demanding a wide variety of documentation from the agency. Martin’s tendency to rush meetings, leak information, pick on the cable industry and his support for the elimination of media consolidation laws have put the FCC boss under fire from all fronts, and both parties, for various reasons. The Washington Post has obtained a memo saying Martin will soon be forced to defend himself before a hearing, which suggests the inquiry may have dug up dirt:
The memo to Dingell and Stupak said the investigation is ongoing and proposed holding hearings on the findings in June. According to the memo, more than 30 current and former FCC employees were interviewed, along with telecommunications industry representatives and private citizens. The memo was the first indication that the investigation, launched in December, has turned up material to support complaints against Martin.
Of course this could also just be a lot of smoke and little fire. Martin’s in a tough popularity spot, having annoyed Democrats, Republicans, FCC employees, consumer advocates and companies like Comcast — all for various reasons. About the only group he hasn’t fully annoyed are the lobbyists at AT&T and Verizon, who’ve seen good fortune under his watch.
This is a management hearing, not a criminal one. He is being accused of pushing his agenda with high priority while letting important issues wane.
But I agree with the “waste of time” comment. He likely loses the big seat in 7 months, regardless.
He’s not a bad guy — I’ve read his writings and I can see his rationale. His lax regulation style often means he becomes a fire-fighter. He would be better off to start with a consistent framework and then build policy within it as needed. Instead, he avoids the framework and — without boundaries — the issues and confusion just runs rampant.
As far as Cable vs Phone, I don’t get why people don’t see what happened!?! Phone was highly regulated, and he’s relaxed that. Cable was unregulated, and he’s tightened that. His latest action on the Skype issue is consistent with how he handled wireline broadband policy in 2005 — show me a problem first, then we’ll put in regulation. Otherwise, we’ll just watch from a distance.
That wouldn’t be my choice, but it’s not irrational.
It’s not so much of an issue of more regulation, but really doing your job. In Canada, the CRTC(our FCC) has sat on it’s hands or simply rubber stamped whatever the industry wanted. We have ISP’s that charge through the roof, throttle everything under the sun, and impose low caps.
When it comes to Broadcast there are 2 major players, one minor and the public broadcaster., all this in the last 5 years or so.
As for Martin,he’s just going what Dick (err George) has told him to.