Re: FCC Investigates MLB-DirecTV Deal


"Thermos" <cfbltw@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1172256071.267223.258950@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
: On Feb 23, 12:38 pm, "KS" <kstar...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
: > "Thermos" wrote:
: > > "KS" wrote:
: > >> Despite the lack of public action by M.L.B. and DirecTV - who are
also
: > >> laboriously finalizing the details of the satellite service carrying
: > >> baseball's separate and new 24/7 channel to its 15 million
subscribers
: > >> starting in 2009 - something happened yesterday. The Federal
: > >> Communications
: > >> Commission's chairman responded to a request for intervention by
Senator
: > >> John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, by saying the agency will
examine
: > >> the
: > >> Extra Innings deal.
: >
: > >> "I am concerned whenever consumers cannot purchase the programming
they
: > >> want
: > >> or are forced to purchase programming they don't want," wrote Kevin
J.
: > >> Martin, the F.C.C.'s chairman.
: >
: > > What a load of shit. If this were actually the case, the FCC would be
: > > engaged in a lot of other activity. The FCC has become the biggest
: > > joke in an administration full of bad jokes. If people have an issue
: > > with MLB's plans, that's one thing. Lying about why the government is
: > > intervening here, and not everywhere else this happens, is quite
: > > another. Good to see John Kerry still can't get out of his own way.
: >
: > What!?! You can't possibly think that the cable and non-DirecTV
satellite
: > companies pressured Congress to lean on the FCC. Why.. .why that would
: > mean it's all about the Benjamins. What about mom, apple pie, the
American
: > flag and .... baseball?
: >
:
: I have no delusions about what's really behind it. I'm just disgusted
: when a fraud like Martin claims he's "always" concerned when consumers
: either aren't allowed to access programming or are forced to buy
: programming. That's a lie. It shouldn't be that hard for these guys
: to be honest.
:
: > On a more serious note, I recently finished reading "Spoiling for a
Fight:
: > The Rise of Eliot Spitzer." Fascinating reading, as most of the book
deals
: > with the cases he handled as Attorney General notably his battles with
Wall
: > Street, the insurance industry, the Midwest power companies that avoided
: > reducing air emissions using loopholes in federal regulations (while the
EPA
: > winked and looked the other way), and big pharmaceuticals. The book
puts
: > forth the notion that the weakening of federal oversight and regulatory
: > agencies - like the FCC - is a deliberate outcome of the
anti-big-government
: > and pro-business atmosphere that rode into Washington on the wave of
: > Reagan's election and reinforced and institutionalized by the
appointments
: > of federal judges with sympathetic perspectives. My point being is that
: > Dubya stepped into that legacy, not that I think he had any inclination
: > whatsoever to change it.
:
: I agree with that premise, but I also think there's been clear
: direction given to several key agencies by the administration.

You mean like appointing Gale Norton to run the Dept. of the Interior?

The
: FCC is among the worst, but hardly the only one.
:


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