With President Bush’s signing of a 39% national broadcast ownership cap law, the 3rd U.S. Appeals Court, Philadelphia, is wondering about its role in the media ownership fight and whether the case it’s considering, or parts of it, are moot. In a letter to the FCC, Media Access Project (MAP) and other parties, the court asked for responses by noon Feb. 2 on how they believed their cases were affected by the new law.
Notable CROSS rulings
Sen. Dorgan (D-N.D.) vowed to keep up pressure to enact media ownership reforms after Congress sends a 39% broadcast ownership cap to President Bush in the Omnibus Appropriations Bill passed Thurs. (CD Jan 23 p13) Dorgan said he would seek other legislative vehicles to advance ownership issues. He said he would continue to seek to roll back the limit to 35% and would push for rules to limit cross-ownership. He said he would increase efforts to win final passage of the legislative veto of the FCC media ownership rules, which passed the Senate but appears stalled in the House. “If anyone thinks we're going to fold our tent and go home, they can think again,” he said.
President Bush is expected to sign a 39% broadcast ownership cap and the $820 billion spending package that it accompanies, which was approved by the Senate Thurs., 65-28. The Senate adopted the omnibus appropriations package after Democrats dropped their objections. Industry sources said since the White House helped broker several of the compromises to which the Democrats objected, Bush’s signature was expected. The broadcast ownership cap is one area where the White House helped negotiate a compromise, they said. Industry sources said House leadership increased the 35% ownership cap originally agreed to by House and Senate appropriators to 39% after the White House insisted on the change. The increase would keep News Corp. (Fox) and Viacom (CBS) under the ownership cap and keep them from having to divest stations. The passage of the bill came 2 days after Democrats voted to keep debate open. Democrats, along with a few Republicans, had expressed concern about a number of provisions in the bill, with most floor discussion focusing on overtime rules and country-of-origin labeling for food. However, the ownership provisions were on the Democrats’ list of objections, and Senate Minority Leader Daschle (D-S.D.) hinted that the Democrats would try to revisit the issue of media consolidation: “We will say more about that in the future.” Sen. Dorgan (D-N.D.), who has helped lead the Senate fight against consolidation, was a vocal critic of the broadcast ownership compromise. His objections were based partly on what he charged was the back-room nature of the White House compromise -- since he declined to push other media ownership restrictions after he believed Congress would enact a 35% cap -- and partly on his concerns about media ownership, a spokesman has said. Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. McCain (R-Ariz.) also has raised concerns about the FCC’s looser cross-ownership rules, which he has said were just as “onerous” as the broadcast ownership cap. Several Democrats quietly said they were happy with the compromise, calling it close enough to 35% to please them, plus, unlike the original 35% language, the 39% clause was in authorization language, meaning legislators wouldn’t have to revisit the issue again next year, as they would have had the cap been in appropriations language. Democrats also said they were pleased that the language essentially would be permanent. Officially, the FCC could open a rulemaking on the ownership cap at any time and change the cap. However, several sources said it was unlikely that would occur soon, or at least not during the Powell administration, because of the firestorm the issue created. Senate Appropriations Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) has urged that the FCC treat the cap as permanent.
Congress isn’t expected to pass comprehensive legislation on communications issues this session, many sources said, but that doesn’t mean lawmakers won’t be busy in the communications realm. Most sources provided a laundry list of issues that would get at least some attention from lawmakers who return today (Tues.) for the 2nd session of the 108th Congress. While no large-scale bills are expected, Congress could pass legislation this year to restrict broadcast ownership, fund enhanced 911 (E911) and spectrum relocation, and renew the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (SHVIA). But there’s likely to be a lot of talk on the Hill about communications issues, as VoIP, universal service fund (USF), broadcast decency and cable rates.
With thousands of parents and some members of Congress bearing down on him, FCC Chmn. Powell sent a draft proposal to his fellow commissioners that would reverse an earlier ruling on the use of the F-word on TV. The initial ruling by the FCC Enforcement Bureau last year came under withering criticism from a variety of quarters, most vocally from the Parents TV Council (PTC), because the decision essentially allowed the F-word’s use as long as it was as an adjective. Agency sources said Powell in all likelihood would receive unanimous support for the part of the draft that would deem it unacceptable for the F-word to be broadcast from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., when children might be watching, and when the courts have said the agency’s indecency rules apply.
Rural telecom companies are uniquely positioned to provide wireless services in the vast majority of rural areas, parties said in comments filed with the FCC. They urged the Commission to adopt rules and policies that would provide opportunities for rural telephone companies and eliminate outmoded barriers to deployment of wireless broadband service. The comments came in response to a rulemaking the Commission began in Sept. (CD Sept 11 p6) asking how to promote spectrum-based services in rural areas.
Democratic Presidential candidates know President Bush will be a tough challenge in Nov., but some believe there is one issue on which he is vulnerable -- media ownership. Former Vt. Gov. Howard Dean (D) and other candidates have hammered the Administration on that issue. Aside from that, broadcast and media issues aren’t getting much play in the campaigns although campaign finance and broadcast indecency are likely to gain some attention.
Federal statutes and reams of case law give the FCC broad and flexible authority to set broadcast media ownership rules, the FCC told the 3rd U.S. Court of Appeals, Philadelphia, in a filing Tues. The FCC asked the court to deny petitions by broadcast networks and public interest groups that want the rules overturned for different reasons.
Based on the know-how gleaned from operating WRAL-DT Raleigh, the transmission of accurate PSIP (Program System Information & Protocol) data is “vital to the consumer’s digital experience,” Capitol Bcstg. told the FCC in an ex parte filing. Filing on cable carriage rules, it urged the Commission to adopt rules “ensuring that our cable viewers get real-time programming and programming information that can be provided to them seamlessly through PSIP.”
In the first telecom decision of its kind since the Basic Telecom Agreement of 1997, the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled in favor of U.S. long distance carriers in their dispute with Mexico’s Telefonos de Mexico (Telmex), a U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) official confirmed Wed. The WTO late last week issued a preliminary decision requiring Telmex to reduce the rates it charges U.S. carriers to connect incoming calls.