**STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONER DEBORAH TAYLOR TATE**

**DECEMBER 30, 2008**

First, I would like to thank President Bush for the honor and privilege
of serving as Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission; and
more importantly, the opportunity to serve the people of this nation
during this transformational and revolutionary time \-- a time in the
history of US communications that heralded courageous investment
decisions, tenacious entrepreneurship and unrivaled American innovation.

I could not have served with 4 more dedicated, professional and
compassionate individuals. They epitomize all that is good and positive
about the term "public servant." To Chairman Martin, Commissioner Copps,
Commissioner Adelstein and Commissioner McDowell: I thank each of you
for so many gifts to me professionally and personally. Gifts of your
time, your wisdom, your insights and especially our ability to disagree
on principle without being disagreeable. I hope you will continue to
seek and find consensus whenever possible, keeping the public interest
rather than the "politics du jour" at the forefront of every decision. I
am proud of the hundreds of consensus decisions we have forged and the
number of truly historic items adopted over the past three (3) years,
which will impact and improve the health, productivity, safety and, yes,
even entertainment opportunities for America and the world. Thank each
of you for your service, your own commitment and now your friendship
that will survive any term limits.

Today, the recession runs deep and wide across our nation. Thus, it is
important that the FCC going forward not make decisions in a vacuum. The
ICT sectors can assist with the jumpstarting and hopefully the
re-stabilization of the overall economy \-- insuring continued
investment to produce new and better-paying jobs. In addition, ICT can
play an integral role in our energy independence and the "greening" of
the environment. I hope to become reinvolved in the energy dialogue and
especially in forging cooperative partnerships not merely cross-platform
but across entire sectors. That is why it is important to continue a
market-driven, deregulatory pathway toward more innovation and continued
investment, when our nation needs it most.

I thank those of you who represent the industry before the Commission;
those who are officers of the court, advocates and employees;
Associations representing members and sectors who are investing and
building and developing the infrastructure, software, and even new
technologies yet unseen for this Information and Digital Age; as well as
many Nonprofits and consumer oriented groups with whom I have worked
closely. I especially thank those of you who reached across the table
\-- and the aisle \-- to work toward creative, voluntary, pro-consumer
market-place solutions. As we move away from economic regulation, it is
imperative the Commission and companies alike serve as honest brokers of
truthful and neutral information so that consumers can take full
advantage of the benefits of competition through well-informed choices.
Certainly, the FCC must enforce its rules and regulations promptly and
fairly; perhaps utilizing more creative sanctions than mere dollar fines
\-- solutions that curb bad behavior and more specifically address
consumer harm. To that end, the Commission should embrace and
collaborate more closely with our sister federal agencies as well as the
state commissions regarding consumer protection. I will continue to
speak out regarding principles of federalism as well as streamlining and
making government work more collaboratively and efficiently at all
levels.

I would like to especially recognize my state colleagues who have served
on the important and extremely useful Federal State Joint Boards. Thank
you to Chairman Martin for his confidence in appointing me to Chair
three (3) of these timely and reenergized Joint Boards. The USF Joint
Board worked diligently for more than two (2) years and I had hoped the
Commission would have acted on your sound recommendations to launch
fundamental reform of the universal service system. You should be
commended for your dedication to this issue, and I personally
appreciated all you did to bring the industry, Members of Congress and
this Commission closer together and the progress we achieved. This will
need your continued commitment. I hope you will encourage the FCC to
begin anew the process toward reform, even if by taking the first step
toward reform in the New Year. Thank you for your support of it and me
has been an honor to serve with each of you.

I prefer to see any perceived failures we may have experienced as a
Commission as fresh opportunities; opportunities for further study and
contemplation of new information; to take the necessary time to consider
the maximum amount of input \-- including constructive criticism \-- in
order to reach an evidence-based and well-reasoned decision in the end.
To that end, I wish my colleagues Godspeed in the crucial decisions for
the "D" block and our commitment to a nationwide, interoperable public
safety network. I tried to bring forward novel concepts, especially from
those who serve at the ground level everyday so that our decision would
provide our valiant public safety and first responders the tools they
need to protect our homeland and our homes.

I appreciated and have been impressed with the interest, knowledge and
alacrity of the FCC Transition Team and wish them well as they and the
new FCC move forward on issues of critical import from the "D" block to
continued emphasis on broadband deployment to the upcoming DTV
transition. I pledge any help I can provide.

Let me also take a moment to recognize the state broadcasters who have
been incredible partners as we journeyed across the U.S. to educate
citizens regarding the digital television transition. Thank you for all
you have done to prepare your facilities, for producing and airing
millions of PSAs and organizing our personal FCC media tours. I would
also like to thank all our federal and state agency partners as well as
nonprofits at the local, state and national level. I especially want to
recognize NTIA and the incredible efforts to implement the coupon
program under Acting Assistant Secretary Baker's leadership especially
during these present difficult economic times. Thank you to the cable
and satellite TV industries as well as non-broadcast sectors that have
provided information to their consumers and hands-on assistance. The FCC
will need your continued assistance even after February 17 to insure our
citizens remain connected; especially those most at risk who are
dependent on OTA broadcasts for information, news and emergency alerts.

The Commission will also rely upon the members of the FCC press corps
for assistance with DTV and many other crucial public policy issues
ahead. I applaud you for your quick study, tenacity and your ability to
deduce highly technical and complex issues to a few paragraphs of
informative and useful (sometimes even insightful for us) pages of text.
I will look forward to reading your reporting as Citizen Tate rather
than Commissioner Tate.

When I first arrived, I hoped that the Commission would spend time
outside the Beltway and we did. I applaud the Chairman for holding a
record number of hearings across the country on topics ranging from
media ownership and localism \-- where we heard from literally thousands
of citizens across the entire country\-- to complex technical hearings
regarding reasonable network management practices. I was especially
pleased to Chair the 706 Joint Board and the recent FCC Broadband Summit
in Silicon Valley which focused on public-private broadband projects
including the FCC's rural healthcare pilot projects and "Connected
Tennessee" successfully deploying broadband to many rural areas in my
home state. I was especially pleased and thank Chairman Martin
specifically for holding two (2) national hearings in Nashville, the
most recent regarding the interplay of media and childhood obesity \--
an issue I have been extremely committed to. In addition to superb,
national researchers from Vanderbilt Medical Center, several media
companies including Disney and Sesame Street presented positive and
historic steps being taken to reduce the unhealthy food advertising to
children. Through our Task Force on Childhood Obesity, several media
companies have agreed to an historic ban regarding the use of licensed
characters for promoting unhealthy foods to our children. I also thank
the food and beverage companies who continue to make pledges through the
voluntary CBBB program and encourage all media companies, advertising
entities and food and beverage companies to be part of the solution. It
is not just the right thing to do; it is also good for the bottom line.
Most importantly, ten million children are depending on us.

I am thrilled that the new Administration will continue our strong
emphasis on the expansion of broadband to all Americans and to all parts
of this nation. I am proud of this Commission and all our
accomplishments: from a number of extremely successful spectrum auctions
to launch innovative wireless broadband offerings to video franchising
reform to rural healthcare broadband pilots to more regulatory symmetry
in order to encourage and enable additional and widespread deployment.
But there is much more to be done. And, as more American families do go
online, it is equally important that we not only recognize the
incredible opportunities that access to the internet brings \--
education, ehealth, e-commerce \-- but also the very real and present
dangers to our children.

That is why I was particularly pleased to have been invited to
participate in the High-Level Session of the International
Telecommunications Union's Forum on Internet Safety. The desire to keep
our children safe is universal; it provides a basis to forge ongoing
working relationships with our international colleagues. As we become an
increasingly connected and global world community, we must keep our
relationships strong and open. To that end, I was also very honored to
have participated in a number of other high level meetings such as the
2008 World Radio Conference, APEC-TEL, bilateral meetings with both
Anatel and the Ministry in Brazil and recently with at the West Africa
Roadmap to Opportunities Conference in Ghana. Even developing countries
share our desire to deploy broadband to their most remote citizens.
These are important and strategic relationships from Chairman Shehadi in
Lebanon to Minister Costa in Brazil to ITU Secretary General Hamadoun
Toure. We can learn much from other nations, and I encourage my
colleagues to become more involved in these and future global
initiatives. I can assure you that the expert FCC international team
will continue to provide the same stellar level of professional
consultation and technical expertise regarding the mechanics of spectrum
auctions. I hope you will build upon the video-teleconferencing
opportunities that we have undertaken with our colleagues on topics of
interest from DTV to highly technical engineering issues. Our staff is
indeed revered worldwide as the "gold standard." I thank them for their
support of me personally on each of these journeys and wish them
continued strong relationships and successful negotiations.

In addition, I want to specifically thank [all]{.underline} of the
dedicated career Commission staff. Thank you especially to those who
have been my law professors, physics teachers, economists, editors,
sector and industry experts; those who defend our decisions in court;
those who greet us each day and protect us 24/7; thank you to those who
transport us safely, and those who provide support seen and unseen.
Thank you for your kindnesses to me, known and unknown. To those of you
I have had the pleasure of working with for many years and to those I
never had the opportunity to meet: thank you for your outstanding and
dedicated service to the FCC, to our country and to our citizens.

And, to my personal staff: from those who assisted me through the
confirmation process to those who recently helped inventory the Tate
Suite, and all those in between, including our large group of energetic
legal interns, I value your loyalty (often burning the midnight oil),
your commitment to my personal "open door policy" so that we could hear
all sides of an issue; your own work toward consensus (even when that
meant a lot more work for you). Special thanks to those who traveled at
breakneck speed with me on numerous trips, accompanied me on seemingly
never-ending tours of convention halls, driving in foreign cities and
flying in tiny prop planes and those who created and made the schedules
run smoothly and effectively. Thank each and every one of you for your
enthusiasm to tackle any subject, your quick study of complex issues,
your exceptional research and speech writing abilities, and your prompt
response to my constant emails and unquenchable curiosity. Thank you for
your strong ethical character, professional integrity and your positive
demeanor \-- even in the midst of stressful situations.

Finally, a heartfelt thank you to my family: to my husband and life-long
partner who has supported me throughout this incredible journey and my
children who I pledge will have a more present mother in their lives.
And to all my extended family and close friends in Tennessee, around the
country and the world, thank you for always reminding me what is truly
important in Life.

While serving at the FCC, I have tried to be a voice for children and
families. I have tried to bring old-fashioned common sense and to
represent the interests of Main Street, small businesses and rural
America; to speak out for our songwriters and storytellers and
inventors; and to try and insure our decisions keep in mind those who
are most in need. As Abraham Lincoln said: *"I have just tried to do my
very best each and every day."* I have tried to also act justly, show
mercy and walk humbly with God.

Wishing all of you and your families a safe holiday season and all good
tidings for a happy, healthy and wondrous 2009! May God richly bless
each of you.