In what Sen. Dorgan (D-N.D.) called a “final push” for House passage of a “legislative veto” of the FCC media ownership rules, several Democratic leaders urged the House Tues. to consider overturning the controversial rules. But the news event lacked the bipartisan presence and tone that similar efforts in the Senate had enjoyed.
Notable CROSS rulings
The FCC issued rules Thurs. for the 1710-1755 MHz and 2110-2155 MHz spectrum bands, which it determined in Nov. 2002 could be used to offer an array of 3G services, including wireless broadband Internet access. The new rules include provisions for application procedures, licensing, technical operations and competitive bidding. “What we have done in the order is build a creative framework, so we will try to maximize the flexibility available to licensees in these bands,” FCC Wireless Bureau Chief John Muleta said. The FCC said the spectrum would be licensed by geographic areas under the Commission’s flexible, market-oriented Part 27 rules, and would be assigned by competitive bidding.
Rep. Hinchey (D-N.Y.) won’t have a key ally as he pushes the House to consider the “legislative veto” of the FCC’s controversial media ownership rules. A spokeswoman for House Commerce Committee Vice Chmn. Burr (R-N.C.) said he won’t sign the letter being circulated by Hinchey asking House Speaker Hastert (R-Ill.) to bring S.J.Res. 17 to the House floor. The “Resolution of Disapproval”, introduced by Sen. Dorgan (D-N.D.) and passed by the Senate on Sept.16. (CD Sept 17 p1), would nullify all of the FCC’s ownership rules adopted June 2. Hinchey’s spokesman said he has nearly 115 signatures on an as-yet-unsent letter that urges the House to consider the measure. However, Burr, a leading house proponent of overturning some of the FCC’s new media rules, won’t be on the letter. Burr has told us there are some cross-ownership models that he would support and wouldn’t want an outright ban. Meanwhile, support for Burr’s bill to retain a 35% broadcast ownership cap continues to grow. HR- 2052 now has 189 co-sponsors, which includes 44 Republicans. More than half of the House Commerce Committee has co- sponsored the bill, though Committee Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.) strongly opposes the measure. Recent co-sponsors include House Democratic Leader Pelosi (D-Cal.) Burr’s spokeswoman predicted the bill will get to 200 co-sponsors by the end of this week and the bill has a serious chance of achieving 218 co-sponsors. One member who hasn’t co-sponsored Burr’s bill is House Appropriations Commerce Justice State Subcommittee Chmn. Wolf, who has made strong statements in support of retaining the 35% ownership cap and was influential in adding a 35% cap amendment to the House CJS Appropriations bill. Wolf last week circulated 2 letters to Republican colleagues relating to media ownership. In one, he circulated a Washington Post review of a new NBC show called Coupling that described the sexual antics in the show as over-the-top. Wolf’s letter said: “As I read this article, I asked myself why the Bush Administration -- which espouses family values and morals -- would support allowing the media conglomerates to have an opportunity to control even more of the programming now on the public airwaves.” The letter said if the ownership cap were raised to 45%, NBC “would certainly take over control of more affiliates.” In the other letter, Wolf distributed an article from James Dobson’s Focus on the Family magazine which praises Jim Goodmon, CEO of Capitol Bcstg. The article describes how Goodmon bucks network scheduling on shows that “mock” marriage, such as reality shows Cupid and Married by America. Wolf said Goodmon is an “example of how television affiliates can use their best judgment to determine if television programming meets community standards.” Also, several Christian-oriented groups, including Parents TV Council, Morality in Media and the Christian Coalition of America, sent a letter to several House members offering their support for a 35% cap and HR- 2052. “Simply put, the irresponsible action of the FCC must be reversed,” the groups’ letter said. Also, Dorgan late Thurs. clarified remarks that some interpreted as negative about the chances of S.J.Res.-17 being taken up in the House. “If Members of the House are able to create enough pressure to force a vote on the resolution, it will pass,” Dorgan said: “Republican leaders of the House have vowed to block such a vote, but they have been wrong several times on big issues over the past year about what the House will or will not do. There is substantial and growing support for the congressional veto resolution.”
Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. McCain (R-Ariz.) said Thurs. he would oppose efforts to legislate a 35% broadcast ownership cap through appropriations legislation. After the Committee’s 7th hearing this session on media ownership, he said he still was unsure of how -- or to what limit -- to regulate media ownership. McCain said he had a hold on S- 1585, the Commerce Justice State appropriations measure and the bill would be rolled into an omnibus appropriations measure, to which he would introduce an amendment to remove the 35% cap.
Black radio and TV owners must find a way to increase their social and political clout or risk being further marginalized by a mainstream media increasingly influenced by right-wing conservatives, political activists and black media officials said at the National Assn. of Black Owned Bcstrs. (NABOB) convention in Washington this week.
House Internet Caucus Co-Chmn. Boucher (D-Va.) predicted Thurs. that Congress would turn back the 45% media ownership cap adopted by the FCC for TV stations, but wouldn’t roll back the rest of the rules, including cross-ownership. He was addressing members of the Computer & Communications Industry Assn. (CCIA). The increase in TV ownership to 45% from 35% is “the most controversial,” Boucher said. He echoed others in saying the House would “not take up” the resolution of disapproval the Senate passed against all the new rules, but said the Senate probably would keep the 45% rollback the House had approved in an appropriations bill. Thus, that would be rolled back but “cross-ownership will be allowed to go forward.” Former FCC Chmn. Powell Chief of Staff Marsha MacBride defended the new rules: “They were very modest changes. They were not the end of democracy.”
After more than a year, the FCC gave conditional approval Mon. to the merger of Univision and Hispanic Bcstg. Corp. (HBC), ending a long-running debate over whether Spanish-language media should be considered a market separate from their English language counterparts. The decision came in a 3-2 vote, with the 2 Democratic commissioners dissenting.
Omnibus could become an ominous word for those that want to see Congress reestablish a 35% broadcast ownership cap. Despite the recent Senate passage of a “legislative veto” (S.J. Res. 17) of the FCC’s June 2 media ownership rules, most observers still see an appropriations legislation rider as the most likely vehicle to establish an ownership cap during this session. But with the appropriations process slowly trudging along, coupled with the need for supplemental appropriations for Iraq, some industry and Hill sources said the prospect of an omnibus appropriations bill is becoming greater.
Senate opponents of the FCC’s new media ownership rules called the Senate’s 55-40 vote Tues. to undo the controversial rules a victory, but those who support the FCC’s rules found the margin of victory smaller than they had feared and characterized the vote as a defeat for those who would nullify the FCC’s controversial new rules adopted on June 2. The House has no intention of taking up the measure, they said, and the vote wasn’t veto-proof (the President has pledged a veto) and also not likely to be filibuster-proof either.
Fixed wireless operators differed in comments to the FCC last week on whether Instructional TV Fixed Service (ITFS) licensees should be able to sell their spectrum to commercial operators. Sprint recommended commercial operators be free to operate in ITFS bands and BellSouth urged the FCC to let DSL providers hold those bands. But smaller MMDS operators and ITFS licensees asked the Commission to keep educational use restrictions intact. Commenters on the proposed rule changes also disagreed on whether restrictions were needed for ownership by cable broadband and DSL providers.