Campaign '08

Former FCC heads and current advisers for Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain‘s presidential campaigns told the Cable Show’s Public Policy lunch Sun how their candidates come down on the issue of a la carte. Clinton "would not go there," said former FCC commish Susan Ness, reciting cable’s list of arguments against mandated a la carte. While Obama supporter Bill Kennard concluded during his tenure as FCC chmn that a la carte didn’t make sense, he said Obama does not have a position on the issue. Former FCC chmn Michael Powell, who is advising McCain, stressed that while the Senator has spoken up for a la carte, he has "never supported an outright mandatory legislative requirement." "He has expressed support for the concept if it lowered prices and provided choice," Powell said. "But he himself understands the limitations of govt attempting to determine the business models of a particular company." Not surprisingly, Powell painted McCain as the most deregulatory candidate with him "very skeptical" of the need to intervene with net neutrality rules. Obama is a "strong and consistent supporter" of net neutrality, who supports a tiered pricing system as long as it’s not discriminatory, Kennard said. Clinton supports the basic principles, while recognizing that network mgmt should not be "unnecessarily constrained," Ness said.