Kevin Martin Doesn't Hate Cable, He Just Loves Ma Bell

KEVIN MARTIN DOESN'T HATE CABLE, HE JUST LOVES MA BELL
[SOURCE: DSLReports]
[Commentary] For an agency that consistently toes the Milton Friedman line on regulation when it comes to their friends at AT&T and Verizon, the move to regulate cable more begs a few questions. It is time to stop simplistically pretending that Martin's uneven treatment of cable operators is because he's worried about what grandma pays for MTV. The majority of real consumer advocates (and anybody running a smaller ISP) will tell you that Martin has probably set this industry back twenty-five years by relentlessly pandering to the incumbent phone providers. A more reasonable and simple explanation for Kevin Martin's inconsistency is that he simply follows the money, and caters to the more powerful lobbying machine (shocking in Washington, we know). You'd be hard pressed to find a more powerful lobbying presence than the one fielded by AT&T and Verizon. Their policy and PR tendrils run deep, utilizing everything from think tanks to bogus consumer advocacy groups to get what they want. The cable industry has simply never been as effective on K Street. The Baby Bells employ a system of lobbyists, public relations and policy gurus that are so influential, they recently turned the supposedly impartial Department of Justice into a public relations mouthpiece on network neutrality. These folks are so good -- that when their employers face legal trouble -- they can have the law changed and gain immunity from prosecution. Getting an FCC commissioner to clamp down on cable competitors as the phone industry entered the TV business was a much easier task.
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Kevin-Martin-Doesnt-Hate-Cable-He-Jus...