FCC's Kevin Martin on the Hot Seat

FCC'S KEVIN MARTIN ON THE HOT SEAT
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
Now serving his second term as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, 40-year-old Kevin Martin, has been in the hot seat lately. Since he became chairman in 2005, he has pushed for greater curbs on sex and violence. Against great resistance, he has attempted to force cable systems to carry the digital channels of local TV stations. And he has riled many more in the cable industry with his advocacy of “à la carte,” which would allow consumers to purchase only the individual channels they want. Meanwhile, the new Democratic-controlled Congress has threatened frequent oversight hearings of the FCC. On the eve of the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas, Chairman Martin sat down with B&C’s John Eggerton to talk about everything from TV violence to the Fairness Doctrine. On media ownership he Chairman Martin says, "I've committed to completing all of the ownership studies and all of the ownership hearings before the commission takes any action to make sure we are going through a process that is transparent and people have the opportunity to raise the issues of concern to them. We have committed to a total of six ownership hearings and two on localism. We have completed three of the six ownership hearings. We have another one coming up in Maine and one in Tampa at the end of April. So we've made some progress, but we still have some work to do. I'm not sure I can say when the earliest we could do something, because I have to make sure we finish all the hearings." On broadcasters' public disclosure rules he says, "Much of the debate over whether broadcasters should be subjected to additional public-interest obligations is based on whether they are serving their communities now. I think most broadcasters are doing a good job, and making public their practices will add concrete facts to this debate and should benefit them. My predecessor circulated an item on enhanced disclosure, and I recently proposed some edits to strengthen it."
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