Powell Says FCC To Clean Up Backlog of Indecency Complaints

Powell said the FCC was prepared to handle the volume of license renewals and resolving any pending complaints. “You have to get a lot of these resolved in order to rule on the license renewal because if you grant a license renewal while there’s a pending complaint the law cuts off on the statute of limitations on the complaint,” he said. “You have a duty to work with as much of the pending indecency complaints as you can. One of the things you will see is the Commission cleaning out much of its backlog on theses complaints in the next several weeks.”

Powell also said he wasn’t opposed to entering more settlements with indecency offenders, such as the agreements reached with Clear Channel and Emmis Communications. But he still would issue fines on an individual basis, depending what’s negotiated with the broadcaster: “I'm not opposed to either as a matter of principle.”

Powell questioned criticisms of the amount of broadcast political coverage, saying the landscape of communicating elections has changed. The Internet and cable have “reached new heights in covering politics,” Powell said. As for broadcasters, “for what they do, they do a good job. The question is if they are doing enough,” he said.

It’s too early to consider how to respond to the 3rd U.S. Appeals Court, Philadelphia, media ownership ruling, Powell said. “There are a lot of challenges,” he said regarding extending the litigation: “It’s kind of messy. We are fairly content to apply the old rules.” Earlier, the court approved in part the FCC’s petition to reconsider putting a hold on new radio ownership limits (CD Sept 7 p10).

Meanwhile, Powell said the FCC will launch a consumer outreach campaign about digital and HDTV in Oct. The campaign will likely include a website that will educate consumers on DTV, buying an HDTV and other information. “The idea is an interactive site,” Powell said. The FCC is trying to partner with associations to contribute to the site including the NAB and CEA. Further details weren’t available.

FCC Close to Cingular-AT&T Wireless Decision

Powell confirmed that the FCC is close to an order on the Cingular-AT&T Wireless merger, though he didn’t provide a time line. An order signing off on the merger is expected to be circulated from the Chmn.’s office to the other comrs. within the next few weeks (CD Sept 15 p1). A source close to the issue said Wed. that while the chairman hasn’t received a draft yet from the Wireless Bureau, he expects an order shortly. “The plane’s coming down,” Powell said: “It sees the aircraft carrier. We're 200 feet out… My view is we'll probably have it to the commission in time; but then the commission engages and that can be a week, it can be 3 weeks, but it won’t be months.”

“Mergers are hard,” Powell said, and the markets the FCC must analyze are “very, very complicated.” He said FCC would examine closely issues raised by the Consumer Federation of America and others about merger effects on competition, including wireline-wireless competition. “To me these are all issues that surface in a merger investigation,” he said. “We absolutely have taken hard looks at those issues and they're a component of what we're examining. Teeing up those issues and needing to examine them is important.”

Powell Pushes Broadband Achievements

Asked what his legacy should be if he leaves the agency, Powell said the things he’s most proud of “live in the realm of digital migration” and related broadband services. There’s been a continual series of broadband proceedings at the agency since he began as chairman, he said. He said he’s also proud of the agency’s spectrum policy and “I'm really pretty proud of the HDTV thing.” He said when he first became a commissioner, the DTV transition “just seemed stalled and moribund. I should complement the [Media] Bureau.” In general, he said: “We spent a lot of effort trying to be a place that understands the technological trends and can make decisions based on them.”

Powell opened the news conference by telling reporters the FCC’s recent Sec. 706 report (CD Sept 10 p3) showed “broadband development is moving at a really extraordinary rate.” Powell said the report revealed broadband is being adopted by consumers at a rate faster than any other product and “in the U.S. we have more numbers of broadband subscribers than anywhere in the world.” Although much as been made about the adoption of broadband by consumers in other countries such as S. Korea, it should be remembered that almost 80% of S. Korea’s population is concentrated in only 2 metropolitan areas, he said. The U.S. has many more rural consumers, in places like Mont. and S.D., Powell said. After all, he said: “Broadband is 6 years old, no older than that.”

Competition -- “more wires” -- will bring even more broadband usage, he said. “Two is always nice but the magic starts to happen at 3,” he said, noting the 3rd wire is being provided by technologies such as Wi-Fi, WiMax, ultra wideband. An FCC order involving another alternative platform -- broadband over powerline -- “definitely will come to fruition this fall,” he said.

The number of broadband applications also is growing, Powell said: “They're really here… more than generally accepted or understood.” Among them, “IPTV and video are going to start coming on strong” and from companies such as SBC, Powell said. Asked by a reporter if the agency was concerned about telephone companies running into local cable regulation when they try to develop video services, Powell said the FCC is “just beginning to think about that.” Such local regulation is an example of “the stove pipe way of applying the law,” he said: “Convergence means companies in those stove pipes are branching out into other stove pipes… Title 2 players playing in Title 6 territory. It creates enormous confusion both at the federal and state level about who owns the problem.”

Powell said the agency will work hard to complete final UNE rules by the end of the year as planned: “The time thing is so important… I don’t think the country can afford to let that lapse… uncertainty is the greatest killer” of innovation so “I've told the [Wireline] Bureau this is a must-do.” It said it would be “very reckless for anyone, whether it be a BOC, a CLEC or a member of this Commission, not to throw everything possible into getting this done by January because you don’t want the potential disruption of the election or a new set of commissioners or anything else to make this have to start all over again,” he said.