Hence, he approved of the merger, but dissented from the imposition of conditions. I therefore concur in the grant of the license transfer applications. I cannot subscribe to any of the other aspects of this Order, however. Commissioner Michael Powell , who is rumored to be President Elect George Bush's likely choice to be the next FCC Chairman, wrote the most detailed and reasoned opinion . Eartlink, a large ISP that competes with AOL and lobbied the FCC to impose conditions upon AOL, commented on the Order.
Interactive television has yet to take form as a business.
It's regrettable that, in order to break an apparent deadlock over merger conditions, the Commission decided to take this action. As the Commission gains more information about interactive TV, we are confident it will find there is no basis for regulation in this area. However, I am disappointed that the FCC chose to include forced access provisions and conditions on AOL's instant messaging that could impair the development of new technologies and deployment of broadband. Forced access lobbyists were again successful in duping a majority of Commissioners. Forced access is wrong on principle, and its practical impact will be to delay and discourage investment in cable broadband upgrades.