Scott Klug: “I have to tell you that I think my colleague from Massachusetts has got half of this amendment right, and that if you…”

“I have to tell you that I think my colleague from Massachusetts has got half of this amendment right, and that if you look, we understood as a country there was a problem when oil companies controlled the oil fields and the refineries and the gas stations. That created a monopoly situation. You have the same kind of potential, frankly, under the language under the bill itself, if you own TV production facilities, the network to distribute it, and, finally, the stations to broadcast it. I think the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Markey] is correct, and we would be much better off with a provision in the bill that says 25 percent, not 50 percent, when it comes to station ownership. But I have to tell you I think my colleagues has gone off the deep end in this bizarre firewall between cable TV stations and broadcast facilities. You can own a newspaper and a TV station presently, as the Milwaukee Journal and the Washington Post do; you can own a magazine and a TV station, as Post-Newsweek does; or you can own a radio station. In fact, you can own several radio stations in the same community and a television station. You can own a billboard company, a shopping magazine. You can own anything in the world except a cable television operation. Cable is not evil. We should allow cable to compete. I urge the rejection of the Markey amendment.”