Kevin Martin, Republican chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, on Tuesday appeared to back down from a controversial effort to expand regulatory control over the cable industry after failing to secure backing from fellow regulators.

The FCC, which regulates the communications and media industries, on Tuesday had planned to vote on a report backed by Mr Martin which found that companies such as Comcast and Time Warner Cable had reached a large enough share of the US population to allow the government to impose new regulatory powers.