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Congress Turns Up The Heat on FCC's Chairman

Posted by Zonk on from the is-it-hot-in-here-or-is-it-just-kevin-martin dept.

Fletch writes "FCC Chairman Kevin Martin could be in for an uncomfortable spring, as House Energy Committee Chair John Dingel (D-MI) has requested a truckload of FCC paperwork relating to some controversial decisions Martin has made. Those include the FCC's reversal on the a la carte cable issue and newspaper-television cross-ownership restrictions. 'This request has got to be turning the FCC completely upside down. Significantly, it appears to reflect a bipartisan discontent with Martin's performance. Democrats and some Republicans are upset over his recent move to relax one of the agency's key media ownership rules, as well as the rushed manner in which he handled the matter late last year. Other Republicans dislike what they see as Martin's persecution of the cable industry, especially Comcast.' The Committee originally announced its intention to investigate the FCC in January."

8 of 148 comments (clear)

  1. he should refuse to testify by Adult+film+producer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    just ignore congress and shred every last document. Why not? Everybody else on Bush's team does this and gets away with it. Democrats in congress make a lot of noise but always bend over and take it when Bush gets angry.

    1. Re:he should refuse to testify by Gat0r30y · · Score: 4, Funny

      its a statement of fact Yea, but you don't have to be a dick about it.
      Wait a minute, whats your name again? Maybe you do have to be a dick about it.
      --
      Prediction: The real iPhone killer is going to be sex robots from Japan. Think about it.
  2. Reaction from Comcast! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    Whew!

    The checks cleared in time.

  3. How it reads to me... by Kazrath · · Score: 4, Informative

    Comcast & other big media could not fully corrupt the FCC into doing what they want but with greater power comes greater corruption and congress turned out to be easier.

  4. Re:Go congress! (did I just say that?) by CRCulver · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The summary seems to suggest that some in Congress want Comcast to have the freedom to throttle its traffic the way it does, and the FCC was standing in their way.

  5. Persecution of those who deserve it? Oh My! by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Comcast deserves all the examination it has gotten, and more. They have been terrible.

    And "a la carte" cable is the obvious and fair thing to do. The claims of "undue burden" and "technically infeasible" are just so much crap. If they have the tecnical capability to do "On Demand", then they have the technical capability to do a la carte. Q.E.D.

    Plain and simple: they just don't want to. Because then they can't charge exhorbitant rates for their bundled "packages".

    1. Re:Persecution of those who deserve it? Oh My! by InvisblePinkUnicorn · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Comcast is only a symptom. Comcast would not be able to get away with what it currently can if not for the local monopolies handed to it by the government. The company has manipulated the government to avoid upgrading their lines to actually handle the bandwidth they claim to their customers.

      "Comcast deserves all the examination it has gotten, and more. They have been terrible."

      The real problem, though, is that the government is able to impose such monopolies on us. It's pointless to go after companies as they become problems, because these companies will continue to spring up. The effective approach is to stop the problem at the source: get politics out of money. Don't permit legislation that creates monopolies and destroys competition. Trash these FCC regulations, and the market will take care of itself. People will have choices, and companies will have to compete to offer what people want at the lowest price possible. And idiotic situations such as the one we currently find ourselves in will not be able to thrive.

  6. Re:Go congress! (did I just say that?) by Sandbags · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is because cable and satellite companies fill the pockets of congressmen with continual loads of fresh green cash... These companies have powerful lobyists. They understand that under a la carte they will no longer be able to charge people $49 for basic cable when all people want is 15-20 chanels. they also understand that if they value certain chanels too highly under a la carte, then those chanels will fall dramatically in ratings as people switch to watching programming on less expensive cable networks. Cable companies will loose money under a la carte, I have no doubt about it, and they have no intention of letting it happen. The millions they blow in kickbacks and other funding given to congressmen is nothing compared to what's at stake under a la carte.

    --
    There is no contest in life for which the unprepared have the advantage.