NCTA's McSlarrow on C-Span's "The Communicators"

Kyle McSlarrow, president of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, is this week's guest on C-SPAN's The Communicators. The fundamentals of the cable business are "pretty strong," he says, but liquidity and the credit markets remain an issue for the industry. He says he's "a little disappointed" that telecommunications policy was not higher on the agenda of either presidential candidate. But he did say he thought he could work with either administration and whoever was picked to staff the Federal Communications Commission (as long as his first name isn't "Kevin"). He said Sen Barack Obama (D-IL) "may be a little better on some of the content side of the spectrum." Asked to elaborate, he said he was talking about an approach to content that recognized that there are technologies available today -- the V chip, set-top boxes -- to empower parents to take responsibility and control over TV viewing, rather than having government step in to regulate content. "I think he has shown recognition of that," McSlarrow said, adding that he was not "hanging his hat on that." Sen John McCain (R-AZ), for his part, "has been clearer that he is very cautious about micromanaging how people operate and run their networks," he said. "It will be a mixed bag." McSlarrow said he was also well aware of where McCain stood on cable a la carte. While McSlarrow said McCain clearly preferred an a la carte world, he added that the Republican candidate did not want it mandated, which McSlarrow called a "significant" difference.