Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael Powell named
Washington, D.C.-based attorney W. Kenneth Ferree as the new chief of the Cable
Services Bureau Thursday.
'We have been talking about this for some time. I am looking forward to the
challenges we face,' Ferree said in an interview Thursday. Current CSB chief
Deborah Lathen resigned Wednesday effective May 18.
Ferree, 40, is a partner in Washington law firm
Goldberg, Godles, Wiener & Wright. He has represented utility companies in
their efforts to lift FCC pole-attachment rates on cable operators that also provide Internet
access -- an issue now before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Ferree begins work at the FCC May 21.
Sources said Ferree might end up becoming chief of a much larger division
after Powell completes his reorganization of the FCC. Under some scenarios,
cable, broadcasting and direct-broadcast satellite issues -- now handled by
three separate bureaus -- will be combined into one unit.
Powell and Ferree are old friends. They both attended Georgetown University
Law School, although they graduated a year apart. They also clerked for Judge
Harry T. Edwards of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
Circuit, although in different years.
Before law school, Ferree received a master's of
business administration in finance from San Jose State University. Ferree, a
Virginia resident, is married and has two children.
