Powell on point

-- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/18/2000

"Convergence is radically altering economic assumptions and underlying cost structures. It is changing the game of capital formation and altering business models. The culmination of these changes is what I am referring to as the Broadband Digital Migration. The challenge for us is to make a similar leap from analog-rooted regulations to ones that are applicable and relevant to the digital environment."

Dec. 8, 2000

"The [broadcasting] industry has regularly traded its First Amendment rights to obtain favors from the government. However, I submit, the Framers did not mint the First Amendment to serve as currency. To offer it as such is to trade away one's moral right to cry victim when the bargain is accepted."

Oct. 20, 1999

"The important public-policy question is not whether to regulate the Internet or not, as if that were a realistic choice. Rather, it is how to regulate it responsibly in a manner that maximizes consumer welfare and does not stunt its infinite growth and innovation potential..A dynamic marketplace, driven by change and innovation, should not be tipped by government but should be allowed to play out."

Sept. 29, 1999

"With scarcity and the uniqueness of broadcasting such demonstrably faulty premises for broadcast regulation, one is left with the undeniable conclusion that the government has been engaged for too long in willful denial in order to subvert the Constitution so that it can impose its speech preferences on the public."

April 22, 1998

"Television and radio are not the source of all society's problems. Even if what is portrayed on television encourages or perpetuates some societal problem, we must be careful in invoking our regulatory power."

April 5, 1998 "Regulatory policy in the next century must be marked by (1) regulators yielding to competitive markets as the means for allocating communications resources; (2) a greater focus on policies that promote innovation; (3) deconstruction of the categorical regulatory scheme in which what law you are subject to is dependent upon how you send your message; and (4) regulatory efficiency."

April 6, 1998

"Mergers are often a natural consequence of a sound competitive marketplace and should not be roundly denounced. Some mergers are troubling in that they result in anticompetitive harm, but most are good things for the market and consumers."

Feb. 18, 1998

"I acknowledge that campaign finance reform is of profound significance to the American public. I do not believe, however, that our general mandate to regulate in the public interest entitles the FCC to engage in election reform."

Jan. 28, 1998

Source: Powell Web site at FCC.gov