On the eve of his resignation, now-former FCC chairman Kevin Martin got in one last shot against nine of the biggest cable companies -- including Comcast, Time Warner, Cox and Charter -- to the tune of $25,000 each. Citing the MSOs (Multiple System Operators) for failing to respond to the FCC's investigation of how they moved channels from analog to digital tiers, additional fines were then added on, bringing the total damages to all nine companies to a cool $510,000. Top honors go to Time Warner, which racked up a $137,000 bill. Wielding his poisoned pen, Martin wrote that the actions of the MSOs "... exhibits contempt for the FCC's authority," and by forcing customers to pay for digital set-top boxes, "... customers have been receiving less from the cable companies but paying the same price." Strong words, but would we wouldn't expect anything less from the FCC chairman who oversaw some of the biggest changes in telco this country's seen.
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Comcast and now-former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin haven't exactly been the best of buddies during Martin's tenure at the regulatory agency, and it looks like things weren't about to change as he made his way out the door. As The Wall Street Journal reports, Martin announced yet another investigation into Comcast in his final hours on the job, with this one focused on allegations that Comcast is deliberately downgrading its rivals' phone services -- an allegation that may sound strikingly familiar to those that follow such things. For its part, Comcast simply says that it has "fully complied" with the FCC's so-called congestion-management practices, and that it is "reviewing the FCC staff's letter." In related news, Martin has also proposed $500,000 in fines against several cable companies, including Comcast, saying that they have failed to provide enough information about whether they have improperly shifted channels from analog to digital tiers. Of course, all of this is still up in the air at the moment, and could possibly be rolled back if and when President Obama's expected choice to head the agency, Julius Genachowski, takes the reins.

Of course we saw this coming with Obama's inauguration right around the corner, but now Kevin Martin has sent his official letter of resignation to his buddy George. This makes his official last day as chairman of the FCC January 20th. He has had the position for four years, and oversaw many of the decisions made by the agency that impacted us like the DTV transition date and the lack of progress of a two way digital cable solution. There's no word on what the eight year veteran of the FCC will do next though, and of course we'll also have to continue to wait for the official appointment of his successor.

Shortly after Barack Obama's transition team urged Congress to postpone the looming digital TV transition, FCC chairman Kevin Martin has hit back with suggestions to keep things on track. His primary concern is that delaying the cutover, which has been scheduled for years and advertised as such, will confuse consumers -- and honestly, we think he has a point. If the February 17th changeover date suddenly becomes meaningless, we could definitely see consumer confusion about this whole ordeal hitting an all-time high. Martin was quoted at an interview at CES as saying that "there are options they can do without having to delay to get coupons flowing immediately," suggesting that extra funding should be hastily given or that those 90-day expiration dates be marked null and void. Additionally, many broadcasters have already scheduled work to take down their analog equipment, and cancellations could be costly and disruptive. Oh, brother -- just call us when this mess is over.

In December of 2007, we candidly wondered if 2008 would be the year for selectable output control. We reckon we should re-pose the question with "2008" replacing "2007." Broadcasting and Cable is reporting that Kevin Martin doesn't support Hollywood's request for selectable outputs, noting that the final decision would have to wait for the next chairman. It's widely expected that Martin will step down just days before Obama is sworn in, but in the January 15th meeting on the topic, he'll likely stifle the MPAA's plans. For those unaware, SOC would enable content to hit HD VOD outlets before DVD, but in exchange, it would only be allowed out of the set-top-box via encrypted digital outputs. Obviously, those with older TV sets wouldn't be able to take advantage, thus the chairman's hesitation to allow it. Maybe next year, Big Content.

[Via LA Times, image courtesy of DansData]

Gulp. FCC chairman Kevin Martin is prepping for a big ol' congressional probe this morning. Martin received a letter today warning that he is being investigated for, "management practices that may adversely affect the Commission's ability to both discharge effectively its statutory duties and to guard against waste, fraud, and abuse." Martin, you'll recall, was recently accused of being in Verizon's back pocket during its attempt to revise the 700MHz open-access rule. The investigation is prompted by allegations made by "credible" FCC employees, both current and former, so far reaching -- including its handling of Comcast and the so-called, 70-percent ruling -- that Ars Technica expects it to turn the "FCC upside down." Martin has two weeks to deliver "a truckload" of records to Congress before this revolution gets televised.

It seems the Sesame Street gang is pissed at DISH Network. Once the analog shutoff occurs next year, FCC Chairman Martin wants to hold DirecTV and DISH to a "non-discrimination" rule -- they cannot carry some HD locals, but not others. However, if a carrier can demonstrate that it has limited capacity that prevents it from going live with all the channels at once, the FCC can grant a waiver. As the FCC is getting ready to vote on these waivers, PBS and the Association for Public Television Stations (APTS) have taken the opportunity to point out that DISH has "...refused to negotiate in good faith for carriage of local public television signals in HD." The real salt in the wound is that PBS can point to its carriage deal with DirecTV as a counter-example, but we'll see how this is balanced out against PBS's announced HD rollout plans.

[Image courtesy Cynical-C]

In the end, much of the hype surrounding the FCC's meeting this week amounted to nothing. After a delay of almost 12-hours, the meeting opened with a diminished agenda. Even before Tuesday, an item that would have forced broadcasters to lease digital spectrum was struck from the program. This motion drew fire from minority interest groups as media "sharecropping." And once the meeting finally started, the hits just kept coming. Most significantly, Martin was forced to retreat from the 70% cable penetration he had touted earlier. The majority of FCC commissioners are now seeking to incorporate industry data into the figures, supplementing the "accurate but unreliable" information provided by Warren Communications News.

It's no secret that FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has big plans for tomorrow's meeting of the FCC. There are several proposals on the agenda that will impact on the cable industry if passed, but the most ominous for the cable industry is the imposition of the "70% rule." This bit of legislation grants the FCC more regulatory power over cable operators and programmers if cable penetration in the U.S. reaches 70%. Martin has cited a figure of 71.4% from an annual publication put out by Warren Communications News, but that number is couched with claims that the measurement is "accurate but not reliable" due to incomplete information disclosed by some cable operators. With a disclaimer like that, it's no wonder that the majority of FCC members have sought out external validation on the numbers. Lo and behold, a Wall Street analyst has emerged to say the figure is no higher than 60.5% based on SEC filings of the eight publicly traded operators. Expect some back-and-forth over the numbers tomorrow!

FCC head honcho Kevin Martin outlined a proposal for mandatory public service announcements (PSAs) to educate the masses about the coming digital switchover. The proposed schedule would bring an ever-increasing wave of announcements in six-month stages, starting in November. Here's a rundown of the daily schedule requirements during each six-month phase, with each PSA lasting a minimum of 15 seconds: 1) four PSAs, each in a different four-hour daypart; 2) eight PSAs, two in each daypart, plus four crawls, one in each daypart; 3) 12 PSAs and 12 crawls, three of each in each daypart. If the proposal is approved at the October 31 meeting, expect to see some hastily assembled PSAs (are there any other kind?) in at least the first wave.

The FCC has been very busy lately pinning down all the details of the digital transition. It has been in the making for a long time and with each month we learn more and more details of exactly how things will go down. Most recently the FCC decided that cable providers throughout the country will be required to continue providing their customers with an analog signal for another three years -- after the airwaves go dark in 2009. This and other decisions under Kevin Martin's lead, have lead to disagreements between the FCC and NCTA. This interview is a good read, especially for anyone who doesn't think the FCC is needed anymore -- or just a corporate shill. The FCC really does mediate some big deals between big time lobby groups.

The end of analog is coming and the FCC isn't content with just the OTA channels making the transition, they want cable to do away with analog as well. So much so, that the FCC chairman Kevin Martin is proposing a mandate for dual must-carry that would require any MSO which is still using analog to carry both an analog and digital version of each OTA channel per their request -- no the 'must' part doesn't go both ways. This isn't too big of a deal for many providers 'cause they already do this, but as bandwidth become more and more valuable, providers are looking for ways to save some bits. As much as the older cable co's would love to drop those bandwidth hogs off their lineup all together, they're faced with millions of customers who may go elsewhere if forced to use a STB on every TV, no matter what the cost.

[Via ConnectedHome2go.com]