Democrat Adelstein Makes Friends in Dereg Places

FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein pleased the president of the limited-government, free market-backing group Progress and Freedom Foundation in a keynote speech to the group's summit in Aspen.

While a text of the speech was not available at press time, Foundation President Ray Gifford blogged that Adelstein had urged less regulation on indecency, multicast must-carry and cable a la carte, all positions supported by the group.

By contrast, free market fan Republican Chairman Kevin Martin has supported tougher indecency regs, mandated multicast must-carry and pushed the industry to adopt a la carte.

"The Commissioner urged caution, restraint and reliance on markets rather than regulation," said Gifford. That made Adelstein three for four in his book, he said, since the commissioner remains a defender of media ownership regulation, which the foundation does not support.

Adelstein has voted with the majority on the FCC findings of indecency against a host of shows, but has criticized some parts of those decisions, particularly the fining of a blues documentary on PBS for profanity.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.