Michael Joseph Copps
(born April 23, 1940) is a former commissioner of the U.S.
Federal Communications Commission
(FCC), an
independent agency of the United States government
. He was sworn in on May 31, 2001, and served until December 31, 2011. He took on the additional role of acting chairman from January 22, 2009, through June 28, 2009.
[1]
He relinquished the chairmanship to
Julius Genachowski
after Genachowski was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on June 25 and then sworn in on June 29, 2009. He is currently a special adviser to the Media and Democracy Reform Initiative at
Common Cause
, a nonpartisan citizen advocacy organization.
Early life, education
edit
Copps was born in
Milwaukee
,
Wisconsin
. He was a
professor
of history at
Loyola University New Orleans
, from 1967 to 1970.
[1]
He obtained his B.A. from
Wofford College
in 1963, where he was elected to
Pi Gamma Mu
and to
Phi Beta Kappa
. He completed his
Ph.D.
in history from the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
in 1968. He served as chief of staff to Senator
Ernest Hollings
for almost 12 years before his appointment to the
United States Commerce Department
as assistant secretary.
He served as one of the commissioners of the FCC from May 31, 2001 to December 31, 2011. He was acting chairman between January 22, 2009, and June 28, 2009.
[1]
He relinquished the chairmanship to
Julius Genachowski
after Genachowski was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on June 25 and then sworn in on June 29, 2009.
Comcast's acquisition of NBC Universal
edit
On January 18, 2011 the FCC and the
United States Department of Justice
allowed Comcast to buy NBC Universal. Michael Copps was the only commissioner of the FCC to vote against the merger.
[2]
He said:
[3]
I searched in vain for the benefits (...) Pardon me, but a deal of this size should be expected to yield more than the limited benefits cited. (...)
In sum, this is simply too much, too big, too powerful, too lacking in benefits for American consumers and citizens.... I would be true to neither the statute nor to everything I have fought for here at the Commission over the past decade if I did not dissent from what I consider to be a damaging and potentially dangerous deal (..) At the end of the day, the public interest requires more-much more-than it is receiving. The Comcast-NBCU joint venture opens the door to the cable-ization of the open Internet. The potential for walled gardens, toll booths, content prioritization, access fees to reach end users, and a stake in the heart of independent content production is now very real.
Notes and references
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