Kevin Martin is going to be in power this year, and cable is just going to have to ride his FCC tenure, said Kyle McSlarrow, president of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association.
McSlarrow said Martin’s continued hostility to cable is going to remain. “It’s a given: This is what it’s going to be like while he is chairman. There’s nothing the industry does that’s going to be good enough. So we have to make our case to other people,” McSlarrow said last week in remarks to the Association of Cable Communicators.
Even though Martin has more years in his term and has indicated an interest in staying on at the FCC if John McCain is elected president, McSlarrow said he’ll probably be gone next year.
“The elephant in the room is that we got a fairly hostile FCC chairman and that’s really the bread and butter of what’s keeping us busy," McSlarrow said.
Yet, the NCTA’s strategy to neutralize Martin appeared to be working. “The good news is, as powerful as the FCC chairman is, he’s still only one vote," McSlarrow said. “I’m not saying it’s going to be easy. But I’m not throwing in the towel either.”
