Reason interviews Michael Powell

Reason interviews FCC Chairman Michael Powell: The Reluctant Planner: FCC Chairman Michael Powell on indecency, innovation, consolidation, and competition.
Powell on public support for structural broadcast license ownership regulations: “Look at some of the groups who are most effectively mobilized against us. We’ve never heard of them here at the FCC. I don’t know who Code Pink and MoveOn.org are. In many ways, the anti-war movement suddenly came to the FCC. And that was a hard thing to have seen in advance”
On unlicensed spectrum and WiFi: “the history of the FCC is, when something happens that it doesn’t understand, kill it. We tried to kill cable. We tried to kill long-distance. When [MCI founder] Bill McGowan starting stringing out microwave towers that threatened AT&T, the FCC tried to stop him. The FCC tried to kill cable because it was going to threaten broadcasting. I don’t want to make those mistakes.”
On the broadcast flag: “I’m not a copyright expert. I have no interest in becoming a place to resolve digital copyright issues more broadly.”
On Brand X: “The Brand X decision is the scariest and worst decision that exists on the books today for the future of the Internet. I think it’s been underobserved and underappreciated how dangerous it is. It says that every Internet transport provider just became a telephone company. That means broadband over power line, that means WiFi, that means ultrawideband, third generation wireless. The costs to consumers in the cable industry alone are breathtaking.”
“I think it will be increasingly difficult to argue for content-premised legislation for broadcasters only.” But Powell goes on to confuse content-premised regulations with structural ownership regulations in the next sentence when discussing the impact of MoveOn.org. The First Amendment does not prohibit the kind of media ownership regulations that the public supports, but does prohibit content-based regulations.