[opendtv] House Report Blasts Martin

From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2008 11:44:27 -0500
"'Daniel, I'm concerned about point 3,' she wrote. 'Regardless of what
the first report lacks or assumes incorrectly, the conclusion of this
report is supposed to be that a la carte could be cheaper for the
consumers.'

"The author resisted, and two minutes later Bohigian followed up. 

"'Daniel, the report cannot conclude that a la carte would likely raise
most cable bills, with fewer channels delivered. If that is going to be
the conclusion, we need to stop now.'" 

This is hilarious! Reminds me of the frenzy about WMD.

Haven't these people ever heard of ethics?

Bert

------------------------------
http://www.tvtechnology.com/article/71148

House Report Blasts Martin
12.09.2008

A new report from the House Commerce Committee blasts FCC Chairman Kevin
Martin for rigging commission analyses, hiding information and generally
failing to run a fair and transparent agency. But the chairman, whose
future after the Obama inauguration also remains opaque, did not
directly address any of the charges laid out in a 110-page report
(including exhibits) by the committee Tuesday.

The report, "Deception and Distrust: The FCC Under Chairman Kevin J.
Martin," written by Democratic staff on the committee, describes a
commission where Martin manipulated and withheld data from other
commissioners, trampled on transparency, bungled up to $100 million in
Telecommunications Relay Service Fund, ran the agency "with a
heavy-handed, opaque and non-collegial management style [that] has
created distrust, suspicion and turmoil" among the commissioners, and
restricted their access to FCC staff.

Twenty minutes after the committee released the report, an FCC spokesman
declared his boss cleared-even victimized-and played the old
everybody-does-it card.

"It appears that the Committee did not find or conclude that there were
any violations of rules, laws or procedures following a year-long
investigation," the spokesman said in a statement. "Chairman Martin has
followed the same procedures that have been followed for the past 20
years by FCC Chairmen, both Democratic and Republican alike. 

"We went to extraordinary lengths to cooperate with the investigation,"
the statement continued. "In total, more than 600 Commission employees
spent 11,620 hours complying with the Committee's request for
information. The Commission provided committee staff with more than
9,000 emails and approximately 75 boxes containing nearly 170,000 pages
of documents, and after producing this information, the Committee did
not find that there were any violations of rules, laws or procedures."

It did not directly address any of the allegations in the report, and
Martin and several senior staffers refused to be interviewed by
committee staff preparing the report.

Among other nuggets: an e-mail conversation that shows a Martin
operative repeatedly working to suppress findings in a report about a la
carte cable pricing, one of Martin's flagship policy goals.

According to the committee report, Martin, within weeks of becoming
Chairman in March 2005, gave the chief of the Media Bureau 10 days to
write a report reversing a previous report that found a la carte cable
pricing would not have the benefits touted by Martin.

"Apparently frustrated with the lack of progress... Martin reassigned
the project to other staff and demoted the long-time leader of the Media
Bureau, who was relegated to an obscure position and ultimately left the
commission," the report said.

Still, according to the report, Martin had a tough time finding a
staffer to write the report with the conclusions he demanded.

On July 8, 2005, Catherine Bohigian, Martin's senior legal counsel,
wrote the author of the new report-in-progress, unhappy with one
observation.

"Daniel, I'm concerned about point 3," she wrote. "Regardless of what
the first report lacks or assumes incorrectly, the conclusion of this
report is supposed to be that a la carte could be cheaper for the
consumers."

The author resisted, and two minutes later Bohigian followed up.

"Daniel, the report cannot conclude that a la carte would likely raise
most cable bills, with fewer channels delivered. If that is going to be
the conclusion, we need to stop now."

Update: The commission issued another statement about an hour after its
first one, defending the  TRS Fund actions and the a la carte campaign.
(Errors in use of quotation marks are in the original statement.)

"After a year of investigation, the Committee's primary criticism of the
Chairman is that he spent too much money to ensure that deaf Americans
have equal access to communications services. The Commission provided
the Committee with hundreds of emails from deaf and disabled Americans
who wrote that they were "appalled to learn that the FCC staff [was]
intent on drastically cutting the Video Relay Service (VRS) rate and
effectively cutting VRS availability for the deaf." Disability rights
groups were also opposed to proposals to cut funding for the VRS
program.

"The other major criticism of Chairman Martin is that he believes cable
rates are too high and that he has sought to enhance choice and
competition in the market for video services. With cable rates having
doubled over the last decade, he will continue advocate on behalf of the
millions of cable subscribers.

"The Chairman makes no apologies for his commitment to serving deaf and
disabled Americans and for fighting to lower exorbitantly high cable
rates that consumers are forced to pay."
 
 
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[opendtv] House Report Blasts Martin

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