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Michael Powell’s Poor Attempt at Subtlety

The Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission hinted on Thursday at the Consumer Electronics Show that it soon may be obsolete. By saying effectively that one could look at Comcast and SBC and “not find a meaningful difference in what they do”, Powell has announced that the future of his agency could be short. Telephone companies used to be the biggest concern of the FCC, and treating them the same as a cable provider would reduce the footprint of regulation period. This might not appear dangerous, but it’s a clever manner to get around anti-trust laws.

You see, it is illegal for one company to control an overwhelming market share of a particular product. Services have less stringent restrictions however. Private utility companies seem to enjoy the ambiguity. Even so, how about being forced to use one provider for all your telecommunication needs? If everything you use is a product, this is illegal under antirust law. But if you use a service, legal precedent is more ambivalent if you can be coerced to use that provider for other certain needs. Imagine having to use one company for your cable, broadband, local phone services, long distance, and wireless. If SBC gets its way, we guarantee that is a foregone conclusion.

And why is this getting around anti-trust laws? Currently you have only have one choice for local phone service. Ergo, consumers would have to use that local phone company for any other communication services that it so desires, or not have a ground line telephone at all.
posted by Thomas at 2:12 AM 0 comments