Adelstein Takes Aim at Martin Over Time Warner Cable Spin-Off Hold Up

Federal Communications Commission member Jonathan Adelstein took aim at former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin over what Commissioner Adelstein called the "no brainer" approval of the spin-off of Time Warner's cable assets. He pointed out that it had taken the FCC over 220 days to hold up what he said should have essentially been a "rubber stamp" approval of a routine spin-off, calling its hold-up an abuse of power. "That was being held up over an unrelated issue," he said. "The previous chairman felt he was going to take unrelated issues like a la carte and try to force them into what would otherwise be a rubber stamp. Now, I'm not one to rubber stamp media transactions, but this was de-consolidation. This was a cable company dealing with a lot of the problems Congress was concerned about with integrated cable companies that had programming and distribution." He also pointed out that it had been difficult for "marketplace participants to do their business with that kind of abuse of power."