Subject: [NEXTEL-1] F.C.C. Chief Dismisses Talk of Extensive Rule Changes

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2003 15:19:53 -0500

F.C.C. Chief Dismisses Talk of Extensive Rule Changes
By ELIZABETH OLSON

WASHINGTON, Jan. 14

Michael K. Powell, the chairman of the Federal Communications
Commission, reassured Congress today that there would not be
radical changes in rules governing local phone service, high-speed
Internet access and ownership of media outlets, but Democratic and
Republican senators said they were worried that anticipated
changes could hurt consumers.

The commission's efforts to foster the growth of digital
communication will be "guided exclusively by the public interest,
and resist the pressure to view our exercise as awarding benefits"
to corporate interests, Mr. Powell told a packed Senate Commerce
Committee hearing.

He derided as "melodramatic" reports of wholesale rule changes,
saying such speculation is not necessarily "a reflection of what
the majority of the commission thinks."

All five commission members made a rare appearance at the hearing
to face questioning about how they intend to alter the
communications landscape. The combination of technological changes
and company failures, including the collapse of WorldCom, as well
as judicial rejection of some commission rules have added to the
importance of coming federal rule changes.

It was clear that any changes will be hotly disputed. Senator
Ernest F. Hollings, the South Carolina Democrat who is chairman of
the panel until the Republican changeover is completed, criticized
the F.C.C. for "considering radically revising the rules of the
game."

Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, who is to take over as
committee chairman, said the agency would make "monumental
decisions" this year that "will shape the future of communications
forever."

A crucial area being reviewed is the federal limit on concentrated
ownership of television stations and newspapers. "If you get it
wrong, we will have much less competition and much more
concentration," warned Senator Byron L. Dorgan, Democrat of North
Dakota. "And the American consumer will suffer grievous injury."

Mr. Powell and other commissioners said they were committed to
diversity, but Mr. Dorgan and other senators warned against
concentration of media outlets.

"When you talk about more voices, are you talking about more
voices by one ventriloquist?" Mr. Dorgan asked the commissioners.

Mr. Powell said the commission would not eliminate all media
ownership rules, which restrict a newspaper from owning a
television station in the same city or a media conglomerate from
owning two television networks. Other rules specify that a
broadcaster may not own television stations that broadcast to more
than 35 percent of the nation's homes, and a broadcaster may not
own two television stations in the same market unless there are at
least eight other competitors.

Mr. Powell noted that the courts had already struck down some of
the rules. The commission must now justify those rules, he added,
or they will be set aside.

He acknowledged that he was concerned about growing concentration
in radio station ownership, where a few large companies bought up
many local stations after Congress relaxed the rules in the
Telecommunications Act of 1996.

"I am troubled by the concentration in radio," he responded to
Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, who said he worried about
the trend being duplicated in the television market. Mr. Powell, a
former antitrust lawyer, said that the way the agency calculated
ownership levels in local markets could be adjusted, and noted
that media company mergers and acquisitions are still subject to
approval by regulators.

"The Senate won't support a monopoly or duopoly," said H. Russell
Frisby Jr., president of CompTel, a trade association that
represents AT&T, WorldCom and Sprint, after the hearing.

Some of the most pointed comments came early in the hearing when
Mr. Hollings criticized Bell companies for trying to change F.C.C.
rules that require them to lease elements of their networks to
competing companies. Bell companies like Verizon and BellSouth
estimate they lose about $600 million a year by giving discounts
to rivals.

"The Baby Bells are saying they are forced to rent their networks
at below their costs, and they want to reverse" the deal that was
made when Congress passed the telecommunications law in 1996, he
said.

"Are you on the side of less competition and higher prices?" he
testily asked Mr. Powell, who responded that "nothing we do will
deny competitors access to the local network."

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/15/technology/15PHON.html

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/