The New FCC
July 31, 2001
With Republicans in power in Washington, things are changing at the FCC. In
the last few months President Bush has selected a new Chairman and appointments
for vacancies on the Commission. Commissioner Michael Powell, a Republican
originally appointed by former President Clinton in 1997 and a three-year
veteran at the FCC, was named new Chairman of the FCC by President Bush in
January. On April 6th, the White House also announced its selections for the
three vacant seats on the Commission - Kevin Martin (a Republican; FCC
transition leader for President Bush and former legal advisor to FCC
Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth); Kathleen Abernathy (a Republican; a former
U.S. West regulatory vice president and one-time advisor to ex-Commissioner
James Quello); and Michael Copps (a Democrat; former chief of staff to Senator
Ernest Hollings (D- S.C. - the ranking member on the Senate Commerce Committee),
who left last year to work as assistant secretary in the Commerce Department in
the international trade area).
Copps was named to replace Commissioner Susan Ness's Democratic seat.
Abernathy and Martin are selected for the Republican seats (one for departing
Commissioner Furchtgott-Roth and the remaining empty seat). Democrat
Commissioner Gloria Tristani also may plan to leave the FCC in 2001, leaving
President Bush to fill another Democratic vacancy.
What are the likely priorities of this new Commission? Chairman Powell has
indicated that he will streamline regulation - perhaps a softer merger review
process (he has long argued that the merger approval process should be
accelerated), expedited interLATA approval, increased attention to rural
telephone issues and the easing (or outright elimination) of spectrum caps. He
is likely to be more conservative in imposing regulations - in his recent
dissent from the high-profile decision to force America Online to make its
instant messaging software work with competing products and services from other
companies, he stated: "[t]he Commission mandates that AOL Time Warner must
offer interoperability for a product that does not as yet exist. When a
regulatory agency has to make up its own acronym to describe the product or
service it intends to regulate, one should be concerned [referring to the FCC's
condition on what it called AIHS - "advanced, IM-based high-speed
services]." He believes in shifting away from regulation rooted in
antiquated analog technologies - so he might avoid interfering in the broadband
marketplace and digital services. Likewise, he may be reluctant to interfere
with the build-out of the Internet, and decline to mandate open access to cable
modems. Broadcasters will be interested in his positions on ownership limits -
he has been a critic of ownership limits that cap the number of stations that
television broadcasters can own, and prefers giving newspapers the right to own
TV stations in their own markets.
Powell will be working with Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain
(R-Ariz.) and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.)
this year on FCC issues. According to reports, McCain and Tauzin are supporters
of Powell and are focused on making changes at the FCC.