McDowell: Sat radio merger 'intriguing'

December 06, 2006 The FCC's Robert McDowell in a rare media investor conference appearance Tuesday said that a satellite radio merger could be "an intriguing idea" to look at and signaled that he feels no need for his regulatory agency to mandate a la carte content offerings. The agency's main goals must be to enable free markets and free ideas and remove barriers to entry with any government measures to address market failures having to be narrowly tailored, he added. Pointing to his children's habit of watching content whenever and wherever they want, he said that companies that don't react to changed consumer behavior will suffer the consequences in the marketplace.

Subscribe to the Hollywood Reporter and see the entertainment industry from its best angle: the inside looking out. Complete access to real-time news and exclusive analysis that goes behind the scenes from film to television, home video to digital media.

   Subscribe now.