Kevin Martin

Even as congressional Democrats discuss an opt-out provision for national health-care reform -- a move that undercuts the basic premise of President Obama's proposal, that real efficiencies can only be created when everyone is insured -- private interests are taking aim at the administration's proposal to impose a national broadband tax.

El base español de Sacramento Kings, Sergio Rodríguez, ha sido traspasado al Houston Rockets la pasada madrugada en una operación que incluiría además de al canario a la estrella de los Kings, Kevin Martin, Kenny Thomas y Hilton Armstrong a cambio de Tracy McGrady, Carl Landry y Joey Dorsey, según la cadena estadounidense ESPN.

Marc Gasol mantiene su buen nivel, cada vez más afianzado como uno de los puntales de los Grizzlies, pero eso no basta para frenar las sucesivas derrotas de su equipo. La tercera se produjo en Sacramento por 127-116 después de la prórroga que fue necesario disputar para decantar un partido muy igualado y en el que se produjo el estreno de Allen Iverson con los Grizzlies en partido oficial. Los 48 puntos que anotó Kevin Martin, con una serie de 14 canastas en 27 tiros, incluidos siete triples, además de 13 tiros libres, acabaron demoliendo la resistencia de los Grizzlies.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski is expected to outline network-neutrality proposals on Monday, according to Reuters. The proposals could become rules at the FCC's October meeting.

Neutrality advocates want Internet service providers barred from blocking or slowing Internet traffic based on content. ISPs, including AT&T, Verizon Communications, and Comcast, say growing traffic needs to be managed, and they contend that neutrality could stifle innovation.

Interim Federal Communications Chairman Michael Copps warned the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce's Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet that the scheduled transition from analog to all-digital television on June 12 "will not be seamless."

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin told media outlets this week that he is willing to drop a porn-blocking provision to win approval of a free U.S. wireless broadband service.

Under the FCC's Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) plan, frequencies in the 2155-2180-MHz band would be auctioned off, with the winning bidder required to devote up to 25 percent of the spectrum to a free Internet broadband with a minimum download rate of 768 Kbps.

A much-publicized meeting by the Federal Communications Commission later this month has been canceled. The meeting's agenda included a vote on a plan that could have provided free broadband wireless service to underserved areas of the U.S.

The FCC said the meeting for Dec. 18 was canceled following a request from Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) that the agency scale down other efforts in order to concentrate on the switch to digital-television broadcasts in February.

Pressure From Both Sides

A debate between the Federal Communications Commission and the outgoing Bush administration centers on the FCC's plan to make broadband available for free at government-mandated speeds.

In a letter to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez said providing free broadband services would be counterproductive, result in a congested and inefficient broadband, and be inconsistent with the Bush administration's stand that the service should be allocated by the markets, not the government.

In a scathing report released Tuesday, congressional investigators outlined a pattern of mismanagement, dysfunction and abuse of power at the Federal Communications Commission under the agency's Republican chairman, Kevin Martin.

The report -- the result of a nearly yearlong, bipartisan investigation by the House Energy and Commerce Committee -- accuses Martin of manipulating data and suppressing information to influence telecommunications policy debates at the agency and on Capitol Hill.

A plan by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin to provide a free national Internet network, up for a vote by the agency later this month, has turned into two versions, according to news reports.

One would require the company that won the auction for the offered frequencies to make at least 25 percent of the spectrum available for free to most of the country. The newer version would give free, unlicensed access to some of that spectrum to innovators, if the acquiring company doesn't fulfill its promise of a free national network.

Opposed By T-Mobile