[opendtv] Re: Rep. Dingell orders investigation of FCC


Albert Manfredi wrote:
> This really makes no sense, on more than one front.
I suppose it would make sense if Mr. Dingell gets contributions from the cable industry. Though I don't haven't checked to see if he does. 

- Tom


Frank Eory wrote:



Trouble for the Commish?

Excerpted from the AP:

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 (AP) — The chairman of the House Energy
and Commerce Committee, saying that the Federal Communications
Commission had suffered “an apparent breakdown in an open and
transparent regulatory process,” ordered an investigation of the
agency.

"Given several events and proceedings over the past year, I am
rapidly losing confidence that the commission has been conducting
its affairs in an appropriate manner,” the chairman, Representative
John D. Dingell, Democrat of Michigan, said in a letter dated
Monday to the F.C.C. chairman, Kevin J. Martin.

...

The letter comes in the wake of a Nov. 27 public meeting of the
commission, in which Mr. Martin was accused of selectively
withholding data from a report on competition in the cable
television industry to favor his position.



This really makes no sense, on more than one front.

First off, it was not Kevin Martin who invented the 70/70 rule. It's been 
around ever since people began chasing after the cable truck as it went through 
their neighborhoods. I.e., when cable was the only multichannel service out 
there, and it looked like no one could do without. Mid 1980s.

I would think that Mr. Dingell would attack that 70/70 rule, rather than the 
Commish. Using the argument that there are now DBS and telco multichannel 
competitors, who either should also be more heavily regulated, or all should be 
treated equally. The FCC isn't withholding that information, and I can't 
imagine what other information he could be referring to.

Secondly, if the FCC claims that 49 percent of US households in fact are now 
subscribing to cable, or more than that, it should be up to John Dingell to 
show how the new math disputes this number. As Mark Aitken pointed out, this is 
the number that matters.

Thirdly, I always thought it was the Democrats who were more in favor of 
federal regulations, and Republicans in favor of small govt. So how is this 
switch explained? I mean, if Republicans favor big business all the time, why 
would they want to clamp down on cable? You'd think it would be Dingell and his 
party to want to force cable into carrying more public 
service/minority/community/PTA what-have-you programming.

Or maybe this is just a case of "since Martin is a Republican, whatever he tries to 
do is suspect."

Bert

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Tom Barry                  trbarry@xxxxxxxxxxx  




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