FCC Chairman Kevin Martin responded this week to accusations from Hispanic and African-American interest groups that he insulted and patronized them in a spat over a la carte cable pricing.
The groups were angered that Martin, responding to a question at a think-tank event, referenced a study by the Center for Public Integrity suggesting that nonprofits—which oppose Martin’s crusade to bring a la carte or per-channel pricing to cable—have financial ties with cable industry and programming interests, which also oppose Martin’s efforts.
Martin’s letter—which runs 25 pages, including supporting news stories and a report from the CPI—gently restates his reasons for supporting a la carte pricing, and expressed his “utmost request and appreciation” for the work and views of the groups. He then repeated the accusations of CPI: “The ‘grass roots’ opposition to a la carte is actually a sophisticated lobbying campaign where seemingly disinterested third parties—like nonprofits and legislators—are spreading the anti-a la carte message using minority programming as the key issue. In fact, rather than being disinterested, these third parties have much to gain. The Center has identified hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations and other benefits showered by cable companies on some of these nonprofits.”
Martin’s letter doesn’t elaborate on whether he considers any of the seven groups that wrote him to be part of that “sophisticated lobbying campaign.” But the CPI report does say that an officer of the National Congress of Black Women, one of the groups, submitted a letter to the FCC nearly identical to one written by cable executives.
Another group that wrote Martin, the Hispanic Federation, lists Cablevision and News Corp. on its Web site among the dozens of its corporate backers.
The CPI reports also noted the apparent coordination of the anti-a la carte message among numerous other nonprofit ethnic, civic and interest groups (including many with no financial ties to cable alleged by CPI), the Congressional Black Caucus (whose members include numerous recipients of campaign contributions from the cable industry, according to CPI) and African-American and Hispanic mayors and city council members.
The other groups signed on to the letter to Martin are the Black Leadership Forum, the Labor Council for Latin American Achievement, the League of United Latin American Citizens, the National Black Chamber of Commerce, and the Hispanic Telecommunications and Technology Partnership.
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