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S. Derek Turner

Research Director
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Derek oversees Free Press’ research and policy analysis efforts in Washington. He has written extensively on a wide range of media and technology issues, and regularly testifies before Congress and the FCC. His reports have examined the state of broadband competition in the U.S., the role of the Universal Service Fund and the lack of female and minority media ownership. Derek holds a master's degree in public policy from the Goldman School at the University of California, Berkeley, where he received the 2006 Smolensky Prize for Outstanding Advanced Policy Analysis. He is the lead author of the book Changing Media: Public Interest Policies for the Digital Age.

Blog Posts

  • Big Open Pipes

    S. Derek Turner
    June 4, 2013
    In 1992, consumers were giving Congress an earful about their cable bills. A decade of deregulation meant cable subscribers had to fend for themselves in a monopoly market where cable TV companies abused their pricing power.

  • Broadcast, Broadband and Bundle Bloat

    S. Derek Turner
    May 31, 2013
    What’s on tonight? For many Americans, the answer is “nothing worth watching.” Broadcast networks, once the kings of primetime, are in the midst of a historic ratings decline. And though there are some bright spots on the cable dial, the audiences for some cable channels are also dwindling.

  • Cord Cutting and the Cable Cabal

    S. Derek Turner
    May 23, 2013
    Rapidly rising cable fees are sending some subscribers looking for a pair of metaphorical scissors so they can cut the cord. In 2009, pay-TV adoption reached an all-time high at 88 percent of American households. But it started a slow decline thereafter, reaching 85 percent at the end of 2012.

Recent Press Statements

  • New Free Press Report Shows How to Fix America’s Broken Video Market

    May 13, 2013

    WASHINGTON -- On Monday, Free Press released Combating the Cable Cabal: How to Fix America’s Broken Video Market, a comprehensive analysis of the economics of the cable industry. The new report investigates why cable bills continue to increase annually at three times the rate of inflation and examines policies that could bring consumers more choice and lower prices.

    The report comes in advance of a hearing on video competition scheduled for Tuesday in the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet.

  • Free Press: DISH-Sprint Merger Wouldn't Counter Market Power of Largest Providers

    April 15, 2013
    WASHINGTON – On Monday, DISH Network announced a $25.5 billion proposed merger with Sprint Nextel. The offer competes with a move by Japan's SoftBank to acquire Sprint.

  • Free Press Applauds Department of Justice Letter on Wireless Competition

    April 12, 2013

    WASHINGTON - On Thursday the Department of Justice Antitrust Division sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) calling on the agency to adopt "rules that ensure the smaller nationwide networks, which currently lack substantial low-frequency spectrum, have an opportunity to acquire such spectrum." The letter’s authors wrote, these rules "could improve the competitive dynamic among nationwide carriers and benefit consumers."
     

In the News

  • Free Press Fights New Broadband Tax

    Broadband Reports
    August 30, 2012

    Though it has been proposed for quite some time, people have only just recently started realizing that the FCC's broadband plan (which isn't much of one because it ignores the lack of competition) does have a provision in it for applying a $1-$5 monthly tax on each broadband connection to help fund fund the USF, a telecom expansion program with a very long and ugly history of fraud, waste and abuse. There's vast support for this plan ranging from companies like AT&T and Google, to Republicans and Democrats at the FCC alike.

  • Broadband Internet Tax in the Works

    American Thinker
    August 27, 2012

    Should those who enjoy broadband internet service be required to subsidize those who don't? The big Internet companies think it's a swell idea. And why not? Forcing the taxpayer to bear the financial burden of broadband expansion is better than them having to pay for the infrastructure. The FCC is going ahead with this idea - mostly under the congressional radar.

  • AT&T: No iPhone FaceTime Without Paying Extra

    InformationWeek
    August 27, 2012

    AT&T confirmed that it will block any use of the iOS FaceTime app across its cellular networks, except for customers who pay for a premium subscription plan.

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People + Policy

= Positive Change for the Public Good

people + policy = Positive Change for the Public Good