Tag: Michael Powell

Bush II, Powells 0.

In something of a surprise move (at least in regards to timing), Michael Powell announces his resignation as FCC Chairman. From the media ownership fiasco to Powell’s knee-jerk overreliance on deregulation as a general fix-all, Powell’s brief tenure probably isn’t going to go down as much other than an experiment gone awry, and further testament to the fact that deregulating markets doesn’t necessarily lead to increased competition — in fact, sometimes quite the opposite. Update: Stephen Labaton previews the post-Powell FCC.

Twisting Armstrong.

After pressure from Democratic commissioners and congressmen, Michael Powell’s FCC announces an investigation into Armstrong-gate. Well, what do you know? I guess they’re just killing time until someone makes the mistake of showing more scantily-clad (non-cheerleader) women at an NFL football game.

Powell Checked.

By a 55-to-40 vote, the Senate overturns Powell’s media ownership rules. Even if the Senate vote goes nowhere (and between the contentious House and a Dubya veto, that’s pretty likely), this should hopefully awaken Michael Powell to the fact that there is significant bipartisan resistance to his agenda of carte blanche deregulation. Instead of freeing the Big Boys from any entangling agreements, perhaps Powell should work on making them honor the agreements they’ve already made – namely, HDTV roll-out and public interest requirements. This isn’t about big government, it’s about getting our money’s worth. Since we’ve given the networks use of bandwidth valued at $70 billion, we have every right to expect something in return.

Ashcroft Agonizes, Powell Punts.

Looks like it’s a bad day for imperious Dubya appointees. In the wake of Congress’s recent decision to limit the powers of the Patriot Act, a defiant Ashcroft wants his toys back. Also facing considerable bipartisan and public criticism, Michael Powell appoints a task force on media consolidation. As Copps notes in the article, next time perhaps it’d be better to do the fact-finding before you vote.

The Powell Rules.

On a party line vote, the FCC eases ownership rules, paving the way for another wave of media consolidation over the nation’s airwaves. With Chairman Michael Powell now playing kingmaker for the likes of Rupert Murdoch, the Commission has come a long way from low power FM in two short years.

Media Blackout.

The networks stay mum on media consolidation as the Powell FCC prepares to lift cross-ownership caps in local and regional markets. Not surprisingly, it looks like the FCC vote will be party-line, with the three Republicans voting as a bloc to facilitate Rupert Murdoch’s ambitions and enlist free-market ideology in order to kill free-thinking media outlets. We’ll always have the web, I guess.

Broadband and Narrow Minds


John Judis blames Michael Powell’s deregulatory fixation for telecom’s collapse. “Powell has proven a disaster…Like Harvey Pitt, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Powell would be ripe for replacement–if his feckless, ideological approach didn’t so perfectly reflect the president he serves.” To be fair, telecom was starting to look a bit peaked before Powell was Chairman (although that’s also partly because Powell was something of an obstructionist on the commission before his ascent.) And, while I’m sure it’s risen lately, demand for broadband services was egregiously low back in 2000. Like campaign finance reform, it’s one of those things you’d expect people to be all over, but for some reason it just isn’t reflected in the numbers. Without a true “killer app” for broadband (Napster/Kazaa comes close, but it’s not it), low demand will continue to be one of the reasons why the big boys aren’t building out. That all being said, I agree with the fundamentals of Judis’s piece.