[opendtv] What May Lie Ahead for Business in America

From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 4 Nov 2004 12:23:36 -0400
An excerpt from a New York Times analysis of the impact of the 
election on Business in America:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/04/business/04bizreact.html?pagewanted=1 
TELECOMMUNICATIONS

  Bigger, Faster, and Less Regulated

WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 - Significant technological advances are rapidly 
changing the telecommunications and media industries, and giving a 
bigger role to Washington policy makers in determining industry 
winners and losers.

In the coming months, the Bush administration and its appointees at 
the Federal Communications Commission face major decisions about 
telephone services over the Internet, new wireless services and 
making broadband service more widely available.

  As a result of the election results, those policy makers will 
probably embark on a course that continues to favor the four regional 
Bell companies and the nation's largest media conglomerates.

  Tuesday's outcome also significantly increases the chances that 
Congress will begin to overhaul the Telecommunications Act of 1996 
next year. The landmark law, which reshaped the regulatory landscape, 
has already begun to come under heavy assault in regulatory decisions 
and court rulings.

  The Senate Commerce Committee, a central player in crafting any 
legislation, will now come under the control of Senator Ted Stevens, 
Republican of Alaska, who has a close working relationship with the 
new senior Democrat on that committee, Senator Daniel Inouye of 
Hawaii. (The current Republican head of the committee, Senator John 
McCain of Arizona, is stepping down as chairman, and the ranking 
Democrat, Senator Ernest F. Hollings of South Carolina, is retiring.)

Many telecommunications regulations defy traditional partisan 
politics, and regulatory issues arose only briefly in the 
presidential campaign when Senator John Kerry said he opposed the 
administration's efforts to relax the ownership rules that had 
prevented the nation's largest media companies from expanding. For 
his part, President Bush said throughout the campaign that he was 
committed to making broadband service ubiquitous by 2007, although he 
and his aides offered few specific plans to achieve that goal.

Both the administration and its appointees in important regulatory 
positions have maintained for months that they intend to relax 
regulations to encourage investment in new technologies and to 
provide incentives for companies to expand high-speed Internet 
services.

  In the coming weeks, the F.C.C., in response to an appeals court 
decision, is expected to issue new wholesale telephone rate rules 
that are all but certain to be significantly more favorable to the 
regional Bells than the old rules. Officials said the outcome might 
have been significantly less favorable to the Bell companies had 
Senator Kerry prevailed.

  Administration officials, as well as top regulators at the F.C.C., 
have also said they prefer to take a deregulatory approach to rules 
governing telephone services over the Internet.

  The administration has also supported efforts to relax rules that 
have restricted the nation's biggest media companies from expanding 
and entering new markets.

  Last June, a federal appeals court in Philadelphia ordered the 
commission to reconsider its rules, issued last year, that would ease 
the way for media companies to grow. The commission has yet to 
respond to the order, either by announcing an appeal to the Supreme 
Court or by re-examining the rules.

  The administration is expected to continue its policy of approving 
most proposed corporate mergers as the telephone and other technology 
industries continue toward consolidation. -- STEPHEN LABATON
 
 
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[opendtv] What May Lie Ahead for Business in America

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