FCC's New Cable Guy Has Low Profile—And Pal In High Place

Cable World, May 21, 2001 by Erik Wemple

Cable executives probably need not fear that the Federal Communications Commission's new bureau chief for cable services, W. Kenneth Ferree, will impose onerous pricing and carriage regulations on the industry.

"I'm a Powell guy," says Ferree, 40, referring to FCC Chairman Michael Powell, who has articulated a deregulatory posture for the agency.

Powell has praised his new appointee's "breadth of experience with the many issues and industries" that come before the FCC--perhaps an oblique reference to the various lobbying visits that Ferree has paid Powell at the agency in recent years. "Since he's been at the commission, I have had occasion to deal with him on behalf of any number of clients," says Ferree, who will leave his job as partner at the Washington law firm of Goldberg, Godles, Wiener & Wright to take the FCC role.

Since Powell announced Ferree's appointment on May 10, industry observers have been struggling to get a sense of the new cable chief. Although Ferree has served as an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, he hasn't written any articles on communications law. "I focused on teaching," says Ferree.

"I've never heard of him," says the senior partner of a prominent Washington telecommunications law firm, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

But Ferree's power line runs straight to Powell: The two met as students at the Georgetown University Law Center and later clerked for the same judge, Honorable Harry T. Edwards, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Over the years, the two men, both tech-law specialists, kept in touch and found themselves agreeing on the role of government in communications. When asked whether he and Powell are ideological soul mates, Ferree replied, "I think that's fair to say."

That means Ferree will likely scoff at recent calls to reregulate cable prices (see story on page 18) as well as mandate carriage by cable companies of broadcasters' analog and digital signals. Ferree, however, declined to discuss specific issues before the FCC. "Right now, I just want to see the lay of the land," says the appointee, who starts as cable services head this week.

Some pessimists in the cable industry note that in his law career, Ferree represented Texas utility TXU Electric Co. in its battle to eliminate federally mandated ceilings on pole-attachment fees paid by cable companies. In April 2000 a federal appeals court ruled that caps on pole fees should apply when the cable operator is transmitting television services but not Internet services. Following an appeal by the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, the case is now headed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Ferree's regulatory leanings will receive even greater scrutiny once Powell completes a long-awaited restructuring of the FCC, an initiative that will almost certainly entail merging the cable and mass-media bureaus, along with the satellite portion of the international bureau. The agency created the cable bureau in 1994, when it handled thousands of annual complaints on cable rate hikes. The bureau no longer has the authority to review cable rates.

On the prospect of assuming an expanded portfolio, Ferree slips into standard appointee speak: "I haven't even considered it. I haven't factored it into my calculus.... This is a fascinating time to work on helping shape the way this sector of the economy will be regulated, and I'm thrilled to play some role in that."