Martin Stresses Unblocked Internet

[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Tom Steinert-Threlkeld]
Consumers should “have unfettered access to all [of] the Internet,” FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said Friday. “You can't have consumers being blocked” from individual services or parts of the Internet, Chairman Martin said in at the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show. His comments came as developers of new sites on the Web -- which increasingly make use of video and moving images, not just text and graphics -- expressed concern that their services might be regarded as competition to the multiple channels of service offered by cable and telephone companies on their TV networks. But Chairman Martin said he was “hesitant” about instigating a rule-making procedure at the FCC at this point, adding that he lacks evidence that content is being blocked. The Wall Street Journal Friday reported that large phone companies such as BellSouth hope to start charging Google Vonageand other Internet-content providers for high-quality delivery of music, movies and the like over their networks. The implication is that if they didn't pay up, their services might not be allowed to operate on those networks. When asked about the report, Chairman Martin said he did not know enough to comment usefully on it. He added that the FCC should look at setting a “baseline for access” to Internet content. In the meantime, he said, he will adopt a “wait-and-see” attitude on the issue.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6297783.html?display=Breaking+News
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* FCC's Martin Says He's Not Pushing Any Cable Option
At the same forum, Chairman Martin said that though he thinks consumers need choices and control over cable content delivered into their homes, he has "stayed away from pushing" any particular option, such as a la carte. Thus, he said, he will not necessarily demand that cable go a la carte if the family tier solution proposed by various operators is not widely adopted by consumers. On the question of indecency, he said the FCC will continue to meet its legal mandate to enforce standards of decency on broadcast television. Asked if the FCC needs to do a better job of clarifying what is and is not considered indecent, he said that context is important -- something that might be deemed indecent in an entertainment program might not be indecent if it were in a different context on a news program. And, he added, to make those kinds of differentiations "is a good thing." Asked if the FCC should enforce indecency rules on satellite-delivered services that use public spectrum-as opposed to cable delivery-he said the FCC has been asked to look into the issue.
http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=9135
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