FCC Chair Martin criticized over cable industry report tactics

FCC CHAIR MARTIN CRITICIZED OVER CABLE INDUSTRY REPORT TACTICS
[SOURCE: MarketWatch, AUTHOR: Corey Boles]
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin was blasted Tuesday night by members of the agency's own panel, coming after a tumultuous day in which the FCC's monthly meeting was severely delayed. In a rare attack on Chairman Martin, Democratic Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein delivered stinging remarks at the meeting that eventually got under way some 12 hours late. He accused the chairman's office of "trying to hide the ball from their own team" and attempting to "cook the books" over a draft of an FCC report that was to conclude that a key threshold of cable's market share had been met. "It's truly inconceivable that our own data should be cast aside," said Adelstein. "The draft (of the report) cherry picked the only data that supported the outcome that was desired." Republican Commissioners Deborah Tate and Robert McDowell joined in the attack, with Tate calling the information underpinning the draft report's conclusion unable to withstand review and McDowell criticizing the commission for being "prepared to omit or as some have suggested suppress the FCC's own data."
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/fcc-chair-martin-criticized-over/s...

* Cable Coup Foiled
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Editorial staff]
[Commentary] Chairman Martin wants more control so he can tell cable companies how to market their products. His holy grail is a la carte regulation that would require Time Warner, Comcast and others to sell programming on a per-channel basis. Social conservatives say this will keep offensive programming out of homes that don't want it. Liberal groups say it will reduce cable bills because customers will only pay for the channels they watch. But an a la carte cable model ought to be a decision for businesses, not regulators. By putting politics above the merits, Chairman Martin managed to alienate everybody.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119630362212707425.html?mod=todays_us_op...
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* McCaskill Slams Martin’s FCC Management
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) is upset with Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin, accusing the media’s top regulator of hiding data from his FCC colleagues in an effort to advance his goal of applying more regulation to cable operators. “The public interest cannot be served by manipulating or hiding data to serve an agenda, no matter what its merits may be,” McCaskill said in a letter Wednesday to Martin.
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6506183.html?rssid=196