NCTA's McSlarrow: Martin FCC Is Broken

NCTA'S MCSLARROW: MARTIN FCC IS BROKEN
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
National Cable & Telecommunications Association President Kyle McSlarrow criticized both the process and the proposals of the FCC under Chairman Kevin Martin, saying that it had a habit of releasing or repressing studies depending on what outcome it was seeking. He said the process smacked of a political-action committee rather than a regulatory agency over a key economic sector. Conceding his bias as the head of a trade association, he said he thought an objective outsider would agree that "the issues teed up for cable have been designed to hurt the industry." Why? McSlarrow said he thought it all stemmed from a la carte. If the cable industry had agreed to adopt that voluntarily at the outset, he suspected, the litany of proposals might not have followed, "and I could have gone sailing." McSlarrow said the FCC was broken in two ways: an agenda that favors one industry over another -- he said the telecommunications companies have had it better under Martin than cable; and a process where rules are proposed through leaks to the press rather than official notices, where there is insufficient opportunity for public comment -- taking a page from critics of the media-ownership review -- and where reports are used to promote an agenda.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6501258.html?rssid=193

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