Sen DeMint: Government Should Free Media to Innovate

Sen Jim DeMint (R-SC) told the Free State Foundation that the Federal Communications Commission needs to get out of the way of media companies trying to develop new business models -- the government "needs to formally withdraw from private sector arrangements in our media sector."

He’d like to see the FCC "dramatically reducing ownership restrictions regarding television, radio, and newspapers." Sen DeMint introduced a bill in the last Congress to block what at the time was the FCC's proposal to reclassify Internet access under Title II. He was also the only senator to vote against the nomination of FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. "We need to be ready for and allow new relationships to develop between content producers and distributors," Sen DeMint says. "In short, new business models and delivery arrangements need to be free to develop, yet our policies are built around last century's media models."