McSlarrow: Martin a Micromanager

MCSLARROW: MARTIN A MICROMANAGER
[SOURCE: Multichannel News, AUTHOR: Ted Hearn]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin supports a regulatory agenda for the cable industry that's at odds with his otherwise free-market outlook for telecommunications, National Cable & Telecommunications Association President Kyle McSlarrow said Tuesday. “What I see, when you put all of those dots together, is an agenda that really represents one of the most sweeping regulatory examples of government micromanagement. I have to say I am puzzled by that,” McSlarrow said in a year-end conference call with journalists. The “dots,” as McSlarrow called them, referred to Chairman Martin’s support for the a la carte sale of cable channels; mandatory carriage of TV stations’ digital-multicast services; public access to cable-programming contracts; and phone-company-friendly terms on entering cable markets. “As I survey that last couple of years, I just think there is a disconnect when I think about the FCC and the agenda -- the disconnect between the rhetoric of free markets and deregulation and the reality of the types of proposals that are being proffered by the leadership of the commission,” McSlarrow said. Asked why Martin has problems with cable, McSlarrow replied: “You'd have to ask him. All I can say is that I just think there is a fundamental misunderstanding of what actually our industry is doing. It’s almost like they are moving through a time warp.”
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6401350.html?display=Breaking+News

* McSlarrow: FCC Stuck in a Time Warp
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6401206?display=Breaking+News

* NCTA's McSlarrow Blasts FCC on Cable Issues
http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=11253