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from: NY Times

November 28, 2007
Cable Wins Compromise on F.C.C. Plans

By STEPHEN LABATON
WASHINGTON, Nov. 27 — In the face of a lobbying blitzkrieg by the cable television industry, the Federal Communications Commission drastically scaled back Tuesday evening a proposal by the agency’s chairman to more tightly regulate the industry, as a way to salvage the effort.

from: Wet Machine

Hot Bi-Partisan Action On Cable Part II — All Eyes On Adelstein As Cable Vote Nears

Posted By: Harold
So I spent a good deal of time in Part I explaining why 70/70, leased access, and the rest of it are necessary steps to curb cable market power. You can also see the back and forth between MAP and the cable guys on whether the 70/70 threshold is met (for those of us that actually care about the substance) either by going to the FCC's Electronic Comment search page and pluging in the docket number 06-189. Or you can check out what my friend Greg Rose has written on his blog. Because regardless of what you think the policy is, there is an actual empirical question here that — if we required cable companies to submit real subscriber numbers to the FCC rather than letting them file whatever the heck they want without any kind of verification or standard system of reporting — we would be able to answer.

from: MultiChannel News

Wall Street Analyst Refutes FCC Chairman’s Cable Math
Moffet Says 70% Cable Penetration Not ‘Mathematically Possible’

By Ted Hearn -- Multichannel News, 11/25/2007 11:35:00 PM

Washington – Wall Street cable analyst Craig Moffett told a Federal Communications Commission official last week that it was not “mathematically possible” that cable penetration of U.S. households is 70% or higher.

from: NY Times

November 27, 2007
NYT Editorial
Regulating Cable

In 1984, cable companies convinced Congress that they were mere minnows that needed to be exempted from many regulatory requirements so they could compete against the titans of broadcast television. That may have been true back then, but now cable companies are media titans, and they should be regulated. Today the Federal Communications Commission can take an important step toward that goal.

from: Wet Machine

GOP To America: All Well In Cable-Land! Skyrocketing Rates and Lousy Customer Service All In Your Mind! Forget What We Said Last Summer About Needing COPE!

Harold Feld

I must applaud the Republican House Commerce Committee members for their willingness to stay bought.

God knows, with the number of issues on their plate and with their party's standing plummeting in the polls, you'd think Republicans would decline to publicly defend the cable industry. What with rates consistently rising faster than inflation (and despite increasing profits-per-subscriber until the last quarter or so), cable operators have raised rates every year - whether they need to or not. As if that were not enough, the customer service records of the major cable companies are abominable (or why would Mona “The Hammer” Shaw have attained folk-hero status?). So with us heading into an election, and the Republicans weighed down by all the baggage of the Iraq War, corruption scandals, accusations of cronyism and mismanagement, and a general anti-special interest sentiment in the electorate, you wouldn't think the Republican party would rise up en mass to defend the cable industry from one of their own?

from: MultiChannel News

Did Martin Flunk A Cable Math Quiz?

By Ted Hearn -- Multichannel News, 11/16/2007 2:15:00 AM

Washington - Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin says that the cable industry’s penetration of the U.S. television market, for the first time, has crossed 70% of households in the U.S. that can subscribe to cable systems offering more than 36 channels of programming.

from: National Journal

Martin Proposes Easing Ownership Rules

By David Hatch

(Tuesday, November 13) A federal ban on a single company owning a major newspaper and broadcast outlet in the same city would be lifted in the nation's 20 largest markets under new rules proposed by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin.

from: Wet Machine

The Media Ownership Endgame: Martin's Opening Gambit on Newspaper-TV Cross Ownership

As I've said before, Kevin Martin plays a mean game of hardball — but an honest one. And while I'm happy to have him on the right side in limiting cable market power, it makes fighting on the media ownership side an utter bitch and a half. Like Belichik prepping the Patriots, Martin has carefully studied the mistakes of Michael Powell, studied the strategies of the media reform movement, carefully considered his own strengths and weaknesses, and set up his game plan with a determination to win.

from: Consumer Affairs

FCC Chief Seeks New Restrictions On Cable TV
Stepped-up regulation comes as telecoms turn up the heat on cable

by Martin H. Bosworth
ConsumerAffairs.Com

November 13, 2007

Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin is advocating new regulations for the cable television industry that may level the playing field for smaller competitors -- but which may also leave cable incumbents vulnerable to challenges from big telecom companies.

from: NY Times

November 13, 2007
Op-Ed Contributor
The Daily Show
By KEVIN J. MARTIN

Washington

IN many towns and cities, the newspaper is an endangered species. At least 300 daily papers have stopped publishing over the past 30 years. Those newspapers that have survived are struggling financially. Newspaper circulation has declined steadily for more than 10 years. Average daily circulation is down 2.6 percent in the last six months alone.