Martin Faces Indecency Issue During First Hill Hearing As Chmn.

Both SSJC Subcommittee Chmn. Wolf (R-Va.) and ranking Democrat Serrano (D-N.Y.) expressed concerns about FCC policies, but from different perspectives. Wolf urged Martin to push industry into more voluntary action to prevent the FCC from having to act on indecency. Serrano, however, reiterated many concerns he raised with Powell last year on perceptions that FCC enforcement action is arbitrary and could curtail freedom of speech. FCC action on indecency could have “monumental consequences,” Serrano said: “I hope you handle this issue better than Powell.”

Wolf encouraged Martin to “aggressively push for a voluntary code of conduct” from both broadcasters and cable. When Martin said he’s making “suggestions” to industry, Wolf pushed back, telling Martin to be more aggressive. “You may need to do more than suggest,” he said. “Maybe this could be your legacy.” Martin said he hopes cable will provide a family-friendly tier of programming, or at least block objectionable channels and let programming costs be removed from the bill. Wolf expressed confusion about why broadcasters don’t want to re-institute the family hour. “They're good people, they have families, too. Why wouldn’t they want to do it?” he asked. Martin replied: “I don’t know.”

Serrano pointed to broadcasting’s self-regulated ban on hard liquor to question why such self-regulation wouldn’t work on indecency. He also told Martin the FCC chmn. -- whoever that may be -- is viewed as personally deciding what’s indecent and what’s not. Serrano said he finds conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh’s comments on liberals and minorities as offensive as some find Howard Stern and asked why the FCC doesn’t pursue questions about content on the Oprah Winfrey show with the same vigor as with Stern. Martin said the context of the broadcast does influence how the FCC acts. Serrano also asked Martin about FCC considerations of satellite radio regulation. Martin said since indecency legislation specifies content broadcast by radio, the Commission may be forced to extend indecency regulation to satellite radio services. However, Martin stressed that the FCC is still studying the issues, adding that he believes the subscription nature of satellite radio exempt it from decency regulation.

Martin was asked by Rep. Kirk (R-Ill.) why the FCC isn’t discouraging consumers from adopting Vonage VoIP service. Kirk referenced issues around Vonage 911 service, and said Ill. and Va. are 2 states in which Vonage doesn’t provide effective 911. “Should the FCC be warning consumers not to buy Vonage?” he asked. Martin said he’s speeding FCC work on regulations to make VoIP services 911-compliant, moving up a staff deadline from June to May. But, he said, since the FCC took regulation of VoIP away from states, the onus has been on the agency to solve 911 problems. Also, Martin said, the FCC shouldn’t be discouraging consumers from adopting new services. Kirk claimed VoIP is an $82 billion industry and, therefore, should be able to afford 911 deployment.

Rep. Fattah (D-Pa.) asked Martin about the E-rate program, raising concerns about fraud in the program. He suggested to Martin that the FCC could prevent more frauds with a more comprehensive application process that detects potential problems earlier. Martin said the FCC is getting $3 million more to put toward more audits of the E-rate program.