Martin: No Investigation of Allegations that Comcast Packed Hearing

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Won’t Act on Complaints by Anti-Consolidation Activists

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/5/2008 8:50:00 AM

Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin told reporters at a briefing Tuesday that the FCC is not looking into allegations that Comcast packed a Feb. 25 FCC hearing on network neutrality at Harvard Law School.

Anti-consolidation activists complained that Comcast paid people to fill seats at the hearing, where a Comcast executive defended the company's management of peer-to-peer file sharing over its broadband network, which is the subject of an FCC inquiry.

Comcast conceded that it paid some people to be line-sitters -- some of whom wound up staying at the meeting -- but said it was because there were a lot of interested Comcast employees.

“No, the commission is not investigating it,” Martin said in response to a reporter’s question, adding: “We always end up trying to allow the public to come in, and I think it is certainly usually more interesting for people who want to attend on their own without having to be paid.”