FCC chief defends media ownership plan
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The Republican chairman of the Federal Communications Commission is disputing Democratic assertions that a new rule loosening restrictions on media ownership is full of loopholes and will lead to more mergers and fewer choices for consumers.
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U.S. communications regulators are  expected to approve on Tuesday a plan to loosen media ownership  restrictions, despite objections from consumer groups and a  threat by some U.S. senators to revoke the action.
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The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission has questioned Congressional testimony by the architect of a proposed satellite radio merger.
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Comcast says it will work with the FCC during investigation, but denies interfering with file-sharing services.
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A bipartisan group of U.S. senators threatened on Monday to override the Federal Communications Commission if the agency votes to loosen media ownership restrictions at a meeting scheduled for Tuesday.
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Political opposition to the merger of satellite radio providers XM and Sirius increased on Wednesday, as the chair of the Senate antitrust committee sent a letter to both the FCC and Justice Department opposing the deal.
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Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin has a plan he says will help owners of thousands of small television stations survive the transition to digital broadcasting.
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Timothy Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, advocated that the U.S. Congress protect net neutrality and questioned the value of DRM (digital rights management) Thursday.
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The cellular services have promised to open their networks, but progress must be monitored, an FCC commissioner says.
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In a broad discussion at the Consumer Electronics Show, U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC)&#160;Chairman Kevin Martin on Tuesday confirmed that the deadline for the country&#39;s switch to digital TV next year will not be postponed, explained the rationale behind the requirements for the current 700MHz auction, and gave hints about his thinking regarding various communications megamergers.Interviewed at the show by Consumer Electronics Association President Gary Shapiro, Martin said the February 2009 deadline for the digital TV switch is a &quot;hard deadline.&quot; He said a postponement would &quot;dis-incentivize&quot; industry to make the transition.&quot;After all of our efforts we couldn&#39;t just turn around and say &#39;We&#39;re just kidding,&#39;&quot; he said.About 50 percent of all homes in the U.S. now have digital TVs, and the CEA forecasts that some 28 million digital TVs will be bought in the U.S. this year, Shapiro noted.The transition to digital will not only improve picture quality for consumers, but also free up spectrum that can be used for wireless broadband, Martin stressed. He also noted that the extra spectrum provided by the switch would be used to improve public safety, allowing for better communications between fire departments and police. The need for better coordination among law enforcement and safety officials was a major point made in the 9/11 Commission report, he noted.Requirements related to the auction for 700MHz spectrum blocks in the U.S. will play an important part in bringing broadband access to more people, such as inhabitants in rural areas, who have limited wireless options now, he said.The spectrum auction has been broken up into blocks. One block, for example, has open-access rules and is broken up into 12 regional licenses across the U.S. There are also &quot;buildout&quot; requirements that will ensure that auction winners will actually put the spectrum to use in a reasonable timeframe, Martin said.He declined to comment directly on the planned merger of Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio, currently under review by the Department of Justice. But he noted that the companies have been talking about a la carte pricing plans for shows, which would give consumers a wide range of options to choose different bundles of programs and prices. Martin said he would encourage content providers -- especially cable TV companies -- to offer this type of program-options plan.One disappointment in the wake of communications industry deregulation has been the rising price of cable TV, he said.Martin stopped short of saying that approval of the Sirius-XM merger would set a regulatory precedent for a rumored merger deal between satellite TV companies Echostar and DirecTV. But he did say that it would be important for the satellite TV companies to give consumers more pricing and program bundle options as part of any merger plan.&quot;This is the type of thing we&#39;d be looking at,&quot; he said.
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U.S. Federal Communications  Commission Chairman Kevin Martin has asked for a legal ruling  on whether a recused commissioner could cast a tie-breaking  vote on AT&T Inc.'s  proposed acquisition of BellSouth  Corp. , an FCC official told Reuters on Friday.
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The maverick network service provider run by former Netscape CEO Jim Barksdale, and that was largely responsible for convincing the US Federal Communications Commission to impose new and innovative rules for bidders on certain blocks of the 700 MHz UHF spectrum, is now saying it may not be able to bid after all. In a formal complaint to the FCC filed Monday, lawyers for Frontline Wireless accused the FCC of "getting it wrong" by having set the asking price of the choicest blocks in the auction too high.
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Warner Music CEO defends use of protection technology after criticism by Jobs.
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Open access advocates say an FCC plan for new spectrum doesn't go far enough to boost competition.
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(InfoWorld) - Kevin Martin, chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), is trying to get the ball rolling toward a decision on AT&T Inc.'s proposed acquisition of BellSouth Corp. The commission appears to be deadlocked 2-2 on whether to approve the deal. The fifth vote that could break that tie belongs to Commissioner Robert McDowell, who is likely to be disqualified because he has worked for a carrier lobbying group, according to news reports. The US$67 billion deal would combine two of the nation's biggest service providers in a company that would include Cingular Wireless LLC, currently a joint venture of the two companies. Consumer advocates and other critics have slammed the plan. AT&T has negotiated with the government and agreed to some conditions, but the two Democrat Commissioners, Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, still oppose the acquisition. Martin last week wrote a letter to tell key members of Congress he was asking the FCC's general counsel to consider letting McDowell vote, an FCC spokesman confirmed Monday. Under the Code of Federal Regulations, McDowell could vote if the counsel determined that the government's interest in having him participate outweighed "concern that a reasonable person may question the integrity of the agency's programs and operations." The companies announced the planned acquisition in March, and the U.S. Department of Justice approved the proposed deal without conditions in October. An FCC vote on it has been delayed several times.
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Democrats urged the head of the Federal Communications Commission to take a more aggressive approach to the industries he oversees.
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U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin has asked for a legal ruling on whether a recused commissioner could cast a tie-breaking vote on AT&T Inc.'s  proposed acquisition of BellSouth Corp. , an FCC official told Reuters on Friday.