Former FCC Chairs Martin, Powell to Genachowski: Be consistent and act

Appearing on this week's "The Communicators" on C-SPAN, former Federal Communications Commission Chairmen Kevin Martin (2005-09), Michael Powell (2001-2005) and Reed Hundt (1993-1997) talk about the current state of communications policy.

"Some of the most important advice I got as chairman was that you have to be deliberate in thinking and decision making but you have to make sure you move forward with what you thought was the right thing," Kevin Martin said. "You have to telegraph what your core principles are, what you are going to stand for and that you have to act consistent with them in a predicable way," said Michael Powell. He advised Chairman Genachowski to use his bully pulpit to influence the industry rather than implementing new regulations. And he talked about how an outdated 1996 Communications Act has in part contributed to problems currently facing Chairman Julius Genachowski. Cable, telephone, wireless and other communications mediums have been "balkanized into buckets" that predate the Internet, said Powell. Some rules fall into some of those buckets and some don't, which he said needs to be addressed by a broad re-examination of the Communications Act by Congress. That's what Genachowski has partly blamed for his own problems - with a federal court's recent interpretation that the agency overstepped its authority by sanctioning Comcast for allegedly blocking Internet traffic. In his defense, Hundt said Genachowski has succeeded in helping the nation rethink broadband policy, even amid an economic downturn.