MMTC, Offering to Pay for Own Study, Now Wants FCC to Pause Media Ownership Vote

The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council no longer seeks an immediate vote on an FCC media ownership order that has deadlocked commissioners (CD Feb 19 p13). MMTC made a new proposal for steps to take before a vote on whether to deregulate newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rules. The council last month sought a vote on the draft Media Bureau order before studies were complete on the rules’ effect on minority ownership (CD Jan 28 p7), saying if the research showed deregulation would harm people of color, the order could be reversed. Executive Director David Honig told us the council now wants the proceeding put on hold so a study the group will pay for on cross ownership’s effects on minority-owned stations can be done by a research firm.

Commissioners have been divided (CD Feb 1 p3) on the draft, and appear to still be divided, a public-interest official said. The proposed order would allow common ownership of daily newspapers and radio stations in a market and waivers of cross-ownership rules for non-top four rated TV stations and dailies in the 20 largest markets. MMTC’s proposal may make it harder for FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski to keep pushing for a vote now, because commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel appear interested in understanding the effects on minorities and women of any deregulation, said public-interest lawyer Andrew Schwartzman, representing Free Press in the proceeding. Commissioners Robert McDowell and Ajit Pai have wanted more deregulation than is in the draft, agency officials have said.

Pai continues to hope the deadlock can be broken on ownership (CD Feb 8 p1), he told us. “I wish I had a magic bullet that would allow us to get from where we are to yes. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what the best strategy or tactics would be to get us there.” It’s possible no vote will occur under Genachowski’s tenure, industry and public-interest officials continue to say. “Hope springs eternal, but I can’t really forecast when that’s going to be, if ever,” Pai said of prospects for a vote. Honig said he’s “trying to get this done as quickly as we can,” so the commission can vote. Such work might take time, said Schwartzman. “This can’t be done quickly. It presupposes time to do it, time to write it up and time for everyone to comment on it.”

The FCC would seek comment on the MMTC-funded research, after it’s finished, Honig said. He said the study would be done by BIA/Kelsey and later reviewed by impartial academics. The council will fund the research, which could cost $25,000, from its general fund that includes money from a conference it puts on and a broadcast brokerage it runs, Honig said. That work will be led by Mark Fratrik, BIA vice president-research. That’s what MMTC wrote in a filing posted Wednesday in docket 09-182 on meetings Honig held the day before with Clyburn, Genachowski, McDowell, an aide to Rosenworcel and aides to Genachowski including FCC Chief of Staff Zac Katz (http://bit.ly/Xsq1V1). Fratrik and a bureau representative declined to comment for this story.

Honig said he was spending Thursday communicating with industry associations, including NAB, which wants deregulation, and the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, which opposes cross-ownership rule changes. Honig said he’s also speaking with public-interest groups and others participating in the proceeding on the quadrennial media ownership review that was due under the Telecom Act to have been completed in 2010. Honig said he wants feedback from those corners about the methods by which BIA will study the impact of cross-ownership waivers on minority broadcasters.

MMTC funding the research itself will take less time than the FCC’s contracting process, Honig said. The agency has paid for ongoing research on barriers to entry faced by minorities and women in the broadcast business, and not for work on cross-ownership’s impact on diversity as BIA will look at, he said. “We think we have a methodology pretty much nailed down with BIA.” Honig’s asking stakeholders “who are all over the map on the issue” for feedback on the way the research will be conducted, “to point out any flaws, to make suggestions,” Honig said. “Since the commission isn’t in a position to do the research itself, we thought we will."

"NAB will continue to reach out to potential allies -- including MMTC -- in an effort to encourage FCC passage of meaningful ownership reform” for radio and TV stations “to remain competitive with national pay media providers,” an NAB spokesman said. NABOB, which Honig also said he’s going to ask to opine on the research methods, had no comment. Regardless of whether Genachowski supports pausing the proceeding to conduct the research, MMTC’s proposal “may make it all the more difficult for the chairman to proceed” to a vote because of Clyburn and Rosenworcel’s potential concerns, Schwartzman said. The work “would comprise carefully structured interviews of incumbent and former principals or executives of minority owned broadcast stations in markets in which cross-ownership waivers are in effect,” MMTC’s filing said: The study will “evaluate whether and to what extent there may be an impact of the Commission’s cross-ownership rules on minority ownership.”