CES 2009: FCC’s Martin Opposes DTV Date Move
Outgoing Chairman Also Says He Regrets Rise In Cable Fees
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 1/10/2009 11:46:00 AM
Las Vegas -- Kevin Martin, expected to be replaced as Federal Communications Commission chairman later this month after President-elect Barack Obama takes office, said changing the digital TV transition date from Feb. 17 would cause consumer confusion.
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Martin also said one of his regrets as the agency’s top official was being unable to stop cable prices from continuing to rise.
“I wish we’d made more progress on trying to have additional competition on the video side, to address what we’ve seen is a dramatic increase in cable prices,” he said.
Martin was interviewed Saturday at CES by Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, which produces the annual trade show.
On the digital TV transition, Martin said he thought the cutover date should remain Feb. 17, the congressionally mandated deadline for when full-power stations in the U.S. must cease broadcasting analog TV signals.
The incoming Obama administration on Thursday issued a call to postpone the DTV transition arguing that many poor, rural and elderly residents will be unprepared for the analog-TV shutoff.
Quipped Shapiro, “Is that change you can believe in?”
“No, I’m concerned about that change,” Martin said. He suggested that the issues with the converter-box coupon program -- which has been forced to institute a waiting list because of a federal budget law -- could be addressed without moving the Feb. 17 date, for example, by waiving the 90-day expiration date.
“The problem with moving the date is we’ve spent a lot time and energy to makes sure people are aware of the date,” Martin said. “I recognize we have a problem that we need resources directed to… but I am concerned about the confusion that could be created.”
Added Martin: “The concern is that, whatever date we pick again, people won’t believe.”
Martin said the FCC early on underestimated the scope of the DTV transition, and one of the big challenges was not having the hard date for the analog-broadcast shutoff sooner.
“Knowing [the date] as early as possible probably would have been helpful -- that’s been a huge challenge for the commission and a huge challenge for the industry,” he said. “It took a lot more time, a lot more resources and a lot more attention than I thought it would.”
Martin, who earned a reputation as antagonizing the cable industry during his chairmanship, maintained that large MSOs are still not allowing “innovation” on their networks because they prevent retail devices from integrating Internet content with cable programming.
He referred to tru2way, the CableLabs-developed specification for providing standard access to interactive cable applications, and said it was still too limited. Tru2way would not allow Microsoft, for example, to add additional content and information to cable's own services. "It’s not a technological limitation. It’s a limitation the cable operators don’t want to let you do.”
Under six MSOs’ agreement with major CE companies reached last summer, a CE-branded guide are allowed to be overlaid on cable screens, “but they have to follow ‘user-friendly’ rules,” Jud Cary, CableLabs vice president of video technology policy, said on a panel earlier Saturday. Also on that panel, Comcast and Time Warner Cable executives said they’re on track to enable support for tru2way-based devices across their footprints by July 1.
Martin, appointed FCC chairman in 2005, noted that his term as FCC commissioner is not up until 2011.
“I don’t have any plans to announce, I don’t have anything to go do right now,” he said. “What frequently happens, when there’s been a big change in administrations, there’s a whole new wave of commissioners that comes in.”
Asked by Shapiro what advice he had for the next FCC commissioner, Martin said that the job requires making “tough decisions.”
“What ends up happening is everyone ends up getting pissed off at you, getting mad at you,” he said. “No one remembers when you agree with them, but no one ever forgets when you disagree with them.”
Shapiro also asked Martin whether the FCC took too long to rule on the merger of XM and Sirius. The agency ultimately approved the merger last July, 17 months after the deal was proposed.
“You know, I think we always want to do things as quickly as we can but that was a particularly difficult decision for us,” Martin said. “In the end I think we made the right decision but I think it was worth the extra consideration and time that took.”
Martin said among the changes he would like to see at the FCC would be to modify the rules under the Sunshine Act, “so we can meet and debate without it being a public meeting.” At the same time, Martin said commissioners’ votes should be made public: “They should come forward and say how they voted and why.”
Martin counted the FCC’s auction of 700-MHz spectrum, which raised $19 billion, as one his proudest achievements. However, he said one of the mistakes he made as chairman was imposing onerous requirements on the winner of the D-block, a set of licenses set aside for public safety organizations. The D-block was unable to attract the minimum required in the auction.
“Obviously we put too much uncertainty on that,” he said. “I have regrets on that.”
As far as regulating content, Martin expressed no regrets in taking action against broadcasters that aired “fleeting expletives” in primetime programs, or against CBS for broadcasting Janet Jackson’s exposed breast during the Super Bowl.
“I don’t have a problem with the steps we’ve taken on indecency,” Martin said.
He added the issue of “protecting children” extends beyond indecency, to violent programming or advertising that exposes kids to unhealthy foods or behavior.
“I would be uncomfortable if Big Bird started lighting up cigarettes and said, ‘These are good for kids,’” he said.
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