FCC Chairman Baker's Big Move

Meredith Attwell Baker is "moving on up." Last winter as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), she signed off on Comcast's acquisition of NBC. This week it was announced she is leaving her regulatory post to become a lobbyist for Comcast.

The rewards for government regulators whose decisions please the top players in the industries they monitor can be sweet.

Comcast's acquisition of NBC means Comcast not only now controls cable access in given geographical areas, it produces a major slice of its content. The acquisition also opened the door wide to a new round of consolidation in an industry already controlled by a tiny handful of corporations.

Why should I care? you ask.

Because this tiny handful of companies - Newscorp, Time Warner, Disney, Viacom (CBS), NBC that is now Comcast - control most of the information you receive and control access to the sources of information.

What about the Internet? you ask.

Cable and telephone companies control access to the Internet, most of its content is filtered through companies like Microsoft, Google, AOL, Apple. Google now owns YouTube. Microsoft plans to buy Skype. AOL recently bought Huffington Post. Reddit's parent company is Conde Nast.

If a small business owner who lunches with a government official with whom he/she has a contractual relationship picks up the check, the businessperson might be accused of attempting to gain favor with that official. For a major corporation to hire a top government official who has just ruled in its favor has become "business as usual" not only in Washington, but in many state capitols.

One might conclude that our laws and regulations only apply to "the small people." You know - you and me.