Reed Hundt Quotations

We still don't have to do this if broadcasters turn down the bags of bucks. A failure of broadcasters to reaffirm the voluntary ban is likely to lead to an outcry that would justify a notice of inquiry.

The public owns the airwaves; Congress gave them to broadcasters for free, with the understanding that they would serve the public interest while trying to maximize profit. An aspect of serving the public is to use the immense power of electronic media to reflect evolving standards of respect for other people.

Broadcasters don't have any First Amendment obligations or statutory obligations to carry hard-liquor ads. I've been saying, please just say no to this,

Ed's not the type to rely on a lot of glitzy presentation. He's made some huge bets, and I think he's been absolutely right about them. His business decisions speak louder than his words.

There's no really good reason why the price for international calls should be so incredibly much higher, ... But we're going to take some very aggressive step to drive that price down.

There's no doubt whatsoever the FCC has jurisdiction in this area. We always have the right and responsibility to investigate any use of the public airwaves that has an effect on the public interest, particularly the interest of children.

There's no doubt whatsoever the FCC has jurisdiction in this area, ... We always have the right and responsibility to investigate any use of the public airwaves that has an effect on the public interest, particularly the interest of children.

Isn't it only appropriate that, in return for the free use of the public spectrum, broadcasters provide something substantial, something that wouldn't otherwise be provided by marketplace competition?

Ten years and one month after Congress passed the Telecom Act, Ed's become the biggest winner so far. That's a long time to build a company, and I don't think he's made a bad acquisition along the line, while almost everyone else has.

As a result of this order and the WTO agreement, we predict that the average price of an international call will drop from 88 cents today to 20 cents five years from now,

This is what President Clinton called for in the 1994 State of the Union address, ... and we delivered.

Congress has repeatedly passed laws and otherwise raised a ruckus about indecent language on the broadcast airwaves used for radio and television.

Everybody agrees that you want competition. But you have to have rules of fair competition if you want to have competitors to enter the market.

Ed would say that I didn't pass the right rules and that my successors didn't pass the right rules. But the vagaries of regulation have not gotten in the way of his dream, and he's made his business dream come true.

The auction of AWS spectrum is primarily important because it creates the opportunity to change the market structure of the cellular industry.

They are not selling the crown jewels of WorldCom, just some cubic zirconium from MCI.

The reverberations at first will be subterranean, but they will be of earthquake proportions.

The New Orleans calamity proved overwhelmingly the government's inability to solve chronic, fundamental problems with communications. No one in the government has shown leadership on this issue, and now the results are tragic.

In lots of places, the Internet is like trying to shovel oatmeal down a straw. You know it's very difficult because the amount of bits that are being communicated and the services and routers in many places really aren't ready for the capacity,

I really think that everyone will find?that we have given all the businesses a fair chance to compete, that the deregulation expressed in our rules has not tilted the playing field in favor of one industry over another industry, and that it's the marketplace that will determine who are the winners and who are the losers.

(Cable) has a very powerful infrastructure. It's got a tremendous ability to deliver high-speed Internet access. I think people will find that cable has many, many more channels to offer, making it even more attractive relative to its competitors,

It is one of the glories of America that we move to higher levels of awareness.

Cultural standards evolve. The meaning of the public interest also, of course, evolves.

When you give an artist a canvas, you shouldn't tell him exactly how much paint to put on it, or exactly how sharp the images should be. You should let the artist get going.

Local television and local TV news isn't telling the voters about local candidates.

The Department of Justice should resolutely bar monopolizing mergers in all markets, including telecommunications, but they are not in a position, as is the FCC, to promote new competition by selling the airwaves in auctions.

We need a data network that can easily carry voice, instead of what we have today, a voice network struggling to carry data.