Budget Minded

Repeating the talking points voiced by FCC commish Deborah Tate earlier this week, FCC chmn Kevin Martin called cable’s family tiers an "important step," but said more needs to be done. The good news: Martin had a solution other than a la carte. He wants Congress to consider applying broadcast decency standards to cable if operators don’t give consumers more control. This was cable’s original indecency plan, before Fox and Viacom nixed it. Martin made his comments during a House appearance to discuss the FCC’s annual budget. Martin wants Congress to increase its travel budget to $235K, which it believes will eliminate the need for industry-sponsored travel. Last year, the FCC accepted approximately $260K from industry sources to pay for travel it deemed important.