McDowell Shows Independence

New FCC Official Unexpectedly Defies Chairman

Robert M. McDowell says he has a "strong, durable and resilient friendship" with FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin. (By James A. Parcell -- The Washington Post)

Robert M. McDowell had not even taken his seat on the Federal Communications Commission when a curveball came whizzing his way.

Shortly before his June 1 swearing-in, McDowell learned he would soon have to vote on whether to require cable companies to carry more digital broadcast channels -- a controversial issue that has one big supporter in Washington: FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin.

McDowell concluded that the FCC did not have the authority to force cable companies to do so and, in his third weekend on the job, told Martin, a fellow Republican, that he could not offer his support. In response, Martin issued a terse, Sunday evening press release conceding defeat.

Lawyers who follow the agency closely say McDowell's early record has served notice that he is an independent force at the FCC who is willing to defy the chairman.

His actions have confounded the conventional wisdom that once he became the third Republican on the five-member commission, he would give Martin a reliable majority at the agency, whose decisions can mean billions of dollars to communications companies.

FCC watchers also said McDowell may now emerge as the swing vote on the commission with considerable influence as it weighs decisions such as whether AT&T Inc., the nation's largest phone company, should be allowed to swallow up the third-ranking player, BellSouth Corp., in a roughly $67 billion deal.

"I think he wants to demonstrate his independence," said James H. Quello, who served as an FCC commissioner for more than 23 years.

Before McDowell's arrival, the FCC was often split between Martin and fellow Republican Deborah Taylor Tate on one side and Democrats Michael J. Copps and Jonathan S. Adelstein on the other.

In addition to differing with Martin on the cable issue, McDowell has harshly criticized the agency in public and successfully prodded the FCC -- after more than a year of inaction -- to try to resolve the dispute between Mid-Atlantic Sports Network and Comcast over airing the Nationals' games.

"The FCC has not been doing its job," McDowell said bluntly at the July 13 meeting at which the FCC adopted his proposal giving Mid-Atlantic the right to seek commercial arbitration to settle the dispute. He said Mid-Atlantic's complaint to the FCC about Comcast's refusal to carry the games -- a sore spot for many area fans -- had apparently "been left to rot in some lost crypt inside this building."

A few weeks after McDowell's criticism, Martin proposed that Mid-Atlantic be given a choice between sending the dispute to an arbitrator or to an administrative judge under the FCC's supervision.

The two companies reached a private agreement Friday, the deadline the FCC set for Mid-Atlantic to make its choice.