"Market-Earned Monopoly," Quoth FCC Chairman

At the AlwaysOn Conference at Stanford last Tuesday, FCC Chairman Michael Powell was describing how tough his job was in regulating the Baby Bells when he let us all know what he was really thinking. He contrasted the former government-granted monopolies enjoyed by AT&T and its progeny with a "market-earned monopoly."

He never actually said the name Microsoft, but he clearly considered their use of illegal market power to embrace and extend to be standard business practice. Remember, this is the man whose job it is to (a) protect Fair Use, (b) provide diversity in mainstream media, and (c) foster communications technology innovation.

Tony Perkins, Tim Draper, and other Silicon Valley Republicans must have gotten out their lighters and held them high, because Chmn Powell is playing an encore in northern California this week. It's a formal public forum for commenting on ways that the FCC plans to lower restrictions on media ownership, likely furthering media consolidation.

Posted by scottrafer, July 19, 2004 06:40 PM | | TrackBack