Press Releases and Statements

MAP Reacts to Tribune Sale Announcement

April 2, 2007 Media Access Project's President and CEO Andrew Jay Schwartzman issued the following statement in response to Tribune's Announcement of its proposed sale to Sam Zell:

"Tribune has made another bad choice. Seven years ago, it bet that it could change FCC ownership rules to hold on to its co-located newspapers and TV stations (in Ft. Lauderdale, Hartford, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago). It lost that gamble when citizens groups successfully opposed repeal of those policies."

Read the press release

MAP Reacts to FCC Ruling on Wireless Broadband

March 22, 2007 In response to the FCC ruling declaring wireless broadband an “information service,” Harold Feld, Senior Vice President of Media Access Project, had the following statement:

“The FCC’s actions today cannot change the legal status of wireless services offered by licensees. Licensees remain subject to Commission regulation under Title III of the Communications Act, regardless of the nature of the service. As Commissioner Adelstein observed, ‘this Order appears to make no difference.’”

Read the press release

MAP Reacts to FCC Order Regarding Communications Wiring of Apartments

March 22, 2007 MAP Senior Vice President Harold, had the following statement in response to today’s FCC decision to adopt an order on the use of exclusive
contracts for access to inside wiring in multiple dwelling units (MDUs):

“This action has the potential to bring the benefits of competition to millions of apartment renters, many of whom live in low-income neighborhoods. Hopefully, access to competing providers will lower costs and improve customer service for these communities."

Read the press release

MAP Disappointed with FCC Digital Audio Broadcasting Order

March 22, 2007 MAP Assistant Director Parul Desai, had the following the statement in response to the Commission's order on Digital Audio Broadcasting:

“The transition to digital radio, which will provide additional streams for programming and other services, presents an opportunity and platform for new and diverse voices and greater service to the public. It is unfortunate that the Commission majority refused to include even a word of official encouragement to broadcasters to voluntarily address the lack of independent programming, especially that created by women and people of color.”

Read the press release

MAP Says AT&T Concessions Make A Bad Merger Less Bad

December 29, 2006 Media Access Project issued the following statement in response to the approval of the AT&T/BellSouth merger:

"All things considered, it would have been better that AT&T were not allowed to acquire BellSouth. However, given the Justice Department’s outrageous failure to stop this deal, it would have been impossible for the FCC to stop the merger on its own. Commissioners Copps and Adelstein clearly got the best possible deal, making a bad merger less bad."

"Our colleagues in the public interest community deserve kudos for successfully advocating sweeping and important net neutrality provisions. The fact that neutrality is being applied to wireless broadband for the first time should not be underestimated. This breaks the "wireless barrier" against extending network neutrality beyond DSL and cable broadband."

Read MAP's press release
Read FCC's release

MAP Disappointed with FCC Notice in 700 MHz Proceeding

December 20, 2006 Media Access Project's Senior Vice President Harold Feld expressed disappointment with the FCC's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the 700 MHz proceeding:

“The FCC's action today essential recreates the Cyren Call proposal the Commission rejected last month. While this rulemaking has the virtue of complying with the applicable statute, the same problems that afflicted the Cyren Call proposal afflict the proposed rulemaking as well.”

Read the entire statement
Read the NPRM

MAP Reacts to Commissioner McDowell's Announcement Regarding AT&T/BellSouth Merger

"FCC Commissioner McDowell has courageously elevated professional responsibility over expedience in declining to participate in deliberations about the ATT/BellSouth merger.  The test for such decisions is whether an action diminishes public confidence in the FCC’s actions.  There is no doubt that the legitimacy of all FCC decision making would have suffered had Commissioner McDowell yielded to pressure and agreed to vote on the merger."

Read MAP's press release
Read MAP's post on the "The Hill's Congress Blog"
Read Commissioner McDowell's statement

MAP and Diverse Coalition Urge FCC to Keep Ownership Limits

October 23, 2006 Media Access Project and coalition of public interest, media reform and community media advocates filed comments in the FCC's broadcast ownership proceeding, urging the Commission to protect localism and diversity by retaining the current broadcast ownership limits. "This proceeding is about peoples’ right to receive all sorts of information and opinions from all sorts of people,” said Parul Desai, Assistant Director of Media Access Project. "Without the current rules, a small number of media executives will be in charge of deciding what information the public has a right to receive."

MAP Applauds Commissioners on "White Spaces" Order

October 12, 2006 Media Access Project's Senior Vice President Harold Feld had the following statement on the FCC's release of a Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on unlicensed use of the broadcast "white spaces":

“Today's FCC action is another step forward in freeing more public spectrum for productive public use. Commissioner Adelstein has once again proven himself a champion for rural broadband and affordable wireless everywhere through his heroic efforts to keep as much spectrum as possible "on the table" until testing is complete. As Commissioner Copps observed, these are the "people's airwaves, to be used in direct service of the public interest."

MAP Questions FCC's Upcoming NOI on Video Competition

October 12, 2006 Media Access Project's Senior Vice President Harold Feld reacted to the FCC's announcement of a Notice of Inquiry on the status of competition in the market for the delivery of video programming.

"It is unfortunate that the Commission has initiated another annual report without finishing last year's business. While the Commission is to be applauded for trying to improve its video competition report, it means nothing if the Commission refuses to act on the information it collects. The Commission has yet to resolve the question raised by last year's report -- whether cable penetration has met the so called 70/70 test of Section 612(g)."

MAP Reacts to FTC Community Wireless Report

"Today's FTC report should reaffirm the importance of leaving local decisions about community broadband in the hands of local governments and local citizens. It recognizes that every city, town and county in the United States must make its own decision on how best to bring broadband to its citizens. Last year, almost 15 states rejected legislation proposed by special interests designed to limit how local governments bring broadband to their communities. As the FTC Report shows, such blanket bans would not only harm local communities, but would seriously jeopardize our efforts to have national, affordable broadband available to all Americans."

MAP's Senior Vice President to Testify at House ICANN Hearing

September 21, 2006 Harold Feld, MAP's Senior Vice President, will testify today at the House ICANN Hearing. Ahead of the hearing, Mr. Feld issued the following statement:

"The question isn't whether the UN should run this, that's a non-starter. The question is whether ICANN gets a free pass because the UN makes ICANN look good. ICANN has real problems in how it works. It's like a bad copy of the FCC making mistakes on Internet time. NTIA needs to force ICANN to shape up or find someone else to do the job right."

MAP Reacts to FCC Cover Up

September 14, 2006 Media Access Project along with Free Press, Consumers Union, and Consumer Federation of America filed a letter with the FCC, urging Chairman Kevin Martin to investigate an alleged cover up under former Chairman Michael Powell. According to a recently released AP article, senior officials at the Commission ordered the destruction of a localism report that found that locally owned television stations show more local news than their corporate owned counterparts.

MAP Wins Important Conditions in Adelphia Approval

"We are especially pleased that the Commission has voted to breathe life into its long neglected leased access provisions to protect independent programmers. Unfortunately, these conditions are not enough to make us happy about today’s action. The Commission’s failure to assure network neutrality, including non-discriminatory access, on the Internet is a step backwards."

Coalition to Rally Public Opposition to Media Concentration

MAP Reacts to FCC Launch of Ownership Review

"We are especially disappointed that Chairman Martin continues to ignore public and Congressional requests that he complete the FCC’s long delayed localism inquiry. Broadcasters can best serve the public by addressing local needs. We are certain that the results of a serious study of broadcasters’ performance will support our position that media consolidation is incompatible with effective public service."

MAP Briefs Reporters on AT&T/BellSouth Merger

"Now that AT&T's Ed Whitacre has made it plain that his business model is based on creating a tiered Internet, in considering this merger the FCC has more reason than ever to impose for strong and permanent protections for Network Neutrality."

MAP Supports Bi-Partisan Net Neutrality Bill

MAP Joins Groups in Opposing COPE Act

MAP Reacts to Recent FCC Releases

"When any segment of our country lags behind, all Americans suffer. When minority communities do not have access to the wireless services needed to participate fully in our 21st Century economy and our democracy, our nation as a whole pays the price."

MAP's 2006 Annual Event Honors Mozelle W. Thompson

"At this time when we are seeing such fundamental changes in the information marketplace, it is important to have critical thinkers like MAP working to shine a light on some of the same fundamental issues it has historically examined: what information do we get, how do we get it, and who gets to see and hear it?"
Mozelle W. Thompson, April 6, 2006

MAP Demands FCC Close Loopholes in Spectrum Auction Rules

April 7, 2006 In a letter to the FCC, MAP joined other public interest groups in demanding that the FCC close loopholes to the spectrum auction rules. Current rules cost American taxpayers nearly $10 billion, block competition, and widen the digital divide.

Read the Spectrum Auction Press Release
Read the Spectrum Auction Letter

MAP Supports the American Broadband For Communities Act

April 6, 2006 MAP joins other public interest groups in a letter supporting the American Broadband for Communications Act. This Act directs the FCC to open currently unused broadcast airwaves (known as empty channels or white spaces) for unlicensed use. These airwaves would provide new opportunities for consumers in rural areas and underserved urban neighborhoods to access highspeed Internet.

Read the White Spaces Letter of Support

MAP Releases Statement on Net Neutrality

April 5, 2006 MAP issued a statement on the rejection of the Markey/Boucher/Eschoo/Inslee amendment to the Communications Opportunity, Promotion, and Enhancement Act of 2006.
Read the Net Neutrality Statement

MAP Supports Net Neutrality in Published Letter to the Washington Post

March 21, 2006 In a published letter to the editor of the Washington Post, MAP's President and CEO, Andrew Jay Schwartzman, warned that eliminating net neutrality would have a damaging impact on political debate.

The regulatory nightmare that The Post fears would not come from adopting "net neutrality" policies but from trying to fix the mess if such policies were not enacted. Policies advocated by AT&T Inc. would undermine citizens' ability to distribute bandwidth-intensive political messages such as the JibJab.com cartoons that lampooned the 2004 presidential candidates. They also would undermine the evolution of blogs and peer-to-peer technologies as vehicles for political debate.

Given recent news about Comcast's political tactics ["Md. Lawmakers Call for Probe of Comcast Ties," Metro, March 8], it isn't extreme to warn that an Internet service provider might give high-speed access to candidates for one party but not others. "Regulating the Web," March 21, 2006; Page A16

Kathleen Wallman Joins MAP's Board

March 14, 2006 Kathleen Wallman, former Chief of the FCC’s Common Carrier Bureau, has joined Media Access Project’s (MAP) Board of Directors. Throughout her service in government, Ms. Wallman was responsible for a wide range of domestic and international telecommunications and mass media issues including cable, broadcast, satellite, wireless and wireline matters.

Read more about Kathleen Wallman

MAP Joins Groups in Supporting Internet Non-Discrimination Act of 2006

March 2, 2006 MAP joins other public interest groups in a letter supporting the Internet Non-Discrimination Act of 2006. This legislation would prevent broadband network owners from blocking and impairing consumer access to content, services and applications on the Internet. The Act would also appropriately prohibit "access tiering," a badly disguised form of network discrimination that would essentially force consumers to pay twice for the same service.
Read the Internet Non-Discrimination Act Support Letter

UPDATE: MAP Re-Releases White Paper on Video Programming

February 9, 2006 MAP's white paper addresses the question in media policy as to whether direct broadcast satellite (DBS), terrestrial cable overbuilders, or potential new entrants such as the incumbent telephone companies, provide true competition to traditional incumbent cable operators, such as Comcast. The paper suggests that unless subscribers can switch from one service to another with reasonable ease, the expected benefits of competition- lower prices, innovation, and diverse high quality programming- simply will not emerge.

The recently added section delves further into the impact of broadband services on consumer switching.

Read the Video Programming White Paper
Read the White Paper Press Release

Mozelle W. Thompson Joins MAP's Board

January 5, 2006 Former Federal Trade Commissioner Mozelle W. Thompson, has joined Media Access Project’s (MAP) Board of Directors. During his tenure at the FTC, Mr. Thompson took a notable leadership role in issues involving the convergence of the high tech, telecom and media industries. Mr. Thompson also developed key U.S. and FTC policy positions on international consumer protection, online privacy, and SPAM.

Read more about Mozelle W. Thompson

MAP's Yearly Update

December 12, 2005 MAP's yearly update is now available to view online. The update outlines MAP's many challenges and accomplishments in 2005, as it continued its work to protect the public's First Amendment right to speak and to hear information from a diversity of sources on the electronic media of today and tomorrow.

Read MAP's 2005 Update

MAP Urges Congress to Support Community Internet

December 13, 2005 MAP joined a coalition of private sector and public interest groups in a letter urging Congress to support community internet legislation. The Community Broadband Act of 2005, sponsored by a bipartisan group of senators, would enhance the availability of broadband services throughout the country by allowing local communities to develop networks that service the needs of their constituency.

Read Community Internet Letter

MAP Calls for FCC Action in Paxson Challenge

November 16, 2005 MAP calls upon the FCC to take final action on a long delayed challenge to Paxson Communications efforts to force unwanted programming on its affiliates.

Read the Paxson Letter

MAP Participates in a Special Briefing on Capital Hill

November 1, 2005 MAP joined the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund in a special briefing with a diverse panel of communication policy leaders examining the role of minorities and women in the mass media. Recent media concentration and the reversal of regulations promoting minority ownership and employment have meant less opportunities exist for media diversity. Because of its powerful influence on our government, our communities, and ourselves, ensuring that the mass media is representative of our diverse society in ownership and employment is critical. FCC efforts to revisit this issue will be the subject of Congressional oversight, making this a timely moment for the policy community to examine minority ownership. MAP and the panel of speakers reviewed the most recent data available, discussed viable solutions, and offered policy recommendations.

Read the Minority Ownership Report prepared by MAP's President and CEO, Andrew Jay Schwartzman, and MAP's Assistant Director, Parul Desai.

MAP Urges Congress to Expand Unlicensed Spectrum Use

October 18, 2005 In response to the upcoming legislation on digital television transition, MAP joined a coalition of over 20 consumer, civil rights and media reform groups in a letter urging the Senate Commerce Committee to include provisions that make more unlicenced spectrum available. Freeing more spectrum for public use would improve local emergency response capability, create a competitive broadband marketplace, and bring affordable high-speed broadband access to low-income, minority and rural communities.

Read the letter to the Senate Commerce Committee
via the Common Cause website

MAP Announces New Assistant Director: Parul Desai

October 3, 2005 MAP is pleased to announce that Ms. Parul Desai has joined Media Access Project (MAP) as its Assistant Director.

Ms. Desai, a resident of Washington, DC, is a magna cum laude graduate of New York Law School, where she participated in that institution’s Media Center program, and was the recipient of a summer Telecommunications Fellowship. She was a member of the editorial board of the New York Law School Law Review and served as a Teaching Fellow for New York Law School's Academic Support Program. Her undergraduate degree is from Rutgers University.

Prior to joining MAP, Ms. Desai served as in-house counsel to Microstrategy, Inc., McLean, VA. From 2001-2004, she was as associate in the Telecommunication, Media, and Technology and Litigation Groups of the Crowell & Moring, LLP. Ms. Desai also served as a clerk to the Honorable Steven L. Lefelt, J.A.D, of the Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court.

MAP Releases Muni Broadband White Paper