The Kevin Martin Appointment Puts Net Nuetrality Further at Risk
by DT - June 4th, 2006 12:23 pm
Kevin Martin, the Bush-appointed Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission has finally got his way. The US Senate has confirmed Robert McDowell, a communications company lobbyist (and Martin’s fellow-member of the Bush-Cheney Recount Team in Florida in November 2000) to fill the long-vacant fifth seat on the Commission.
Martin now has a safe Republican majority over the two Democrat members, Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein. The log-jam on the Commission over several contentious issues is now likely to be broken. Important among them is Martin’s effort, begun by his predecessor Michael Powell but stymied by the a federal appeals court, lift the general ban on cross-ownership of TV stations and newspapers in the same city or community, and ease the limits on how many stations a single company can own in one market. Media conglomerates who want to grow bigger have already put the champagne on ice.
And big phone companies are licking their lips too. Chances are now that FCC approval of AT&T’s merger with BellSouth, and Time Warner’s break-up of Adelphi’s assets will be swift, and condition-free. Under the previous FCC, Verizon’s merger with MCI and the then A&T’s merger with SBC gained approval only on condition that the telcom giants would be blocked for two years from trying to block or otherwise interfere with voice or data traffic on their networks – the preciously valued concept of “net neutrality”. That concept may be at further risk now.
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