FCC Chairman Kevin Martin pushed through two votes yesterday along party lines – one with the Democrats and one with the Republicans. Neither vote was a surprise.
Democrats got Martin’s support on capping cable ownership at 30%. This puts a possible crimp in Comcast’s future plans to extend beyond its current 27% market share and was not well received by the cable industry in general. While I’m all for putting the brakes on massive media consolidation, Martin’s move does seem to come at a strange time given that the cable industry is facing more competition than ever from its satellite and telco brethren.
And speaking of consolidation, the other vote of yesterday’s FCC meeting had Chairman Martin lining up with the Republicans to grant media companies some leeway in owning both newspapers and broadcast stations in certain markets under certain circumstances. The most extreme implication of this could be the opportunity for Rupert Murdoch to control The New York Post, The Wall Street Journal and two TV stations in New York. Ugh. Needless to say, plenty of folks were unhappy. Just look at the crazy protest photo in The New York Times story.
If nothing else, Kevin Martin has proven he can turn around from a major defeat like last month’s debacle around the 70/70 rule, and manage to tick off even more folks with support from both sides of the legislative aisle. This guy is making friends left and right.