FCC Comr. Adelstein said Tues. the agency made a serious error in its new media ownership rules, creating a situation where a small town like Minot, N.D., could be treated as if it had more TV stations than Detroit. Adelstein said his fellow commissioners should reconsider the rules to fix what he called an anomaly that would allow greater concentration in small markets. An FCC spokesman declined to comment, but agency staffers acknowledged privately that Adelstein could have a point. However, they said such an issue should be brought up in a petition for reconsideration.
Notable CROSS rulings
“Thousands and thousands” requests for waivers of the satellite distant signal rule were received last week by TV stations, the NAB and station executives said. The requests seek stations’ approvals of continued carriage of signals of one or more distant network affiliates in markets where satellite subscribers can receive the same network from a local station (local on local). An EchoStar official told us the satellite program provider was sending requests for waivers to independent coordinator Decisionmark at the request of its subscribers.
Despite the fact that it’s strongly opposed by House leadership, an amendment for a 35% broadcast ownership cap amendment is likely to be offered for the House Commerce Justice State Appropriations bill, scheduled to be voted on Wed. Several Hill sources said the amendment probably would be introduced by Appropriations Committee ranking Democrat Obey (Wis.). A spokesman for Obey said such an amendment would come, but it might not be Obey who introduced it. An industry source said Reps. Wamp (R-Tenn.) or Price (D-N.C.) also could propose the amendment. House Appropriations Chmn. Young (R-Fla.) has said he wouldn’t support it, and House Commerce Committee Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.) and House Majority Leader DeLay (R-Tex.) have said they will oppose it. NAB urged its members not to support the amendment, despite the fact that it had reaffirmed its support for a 35% cap. NAB officials have said they were worried that 35% legislation would attract cross-ownership or radio divestiture restrictions. In a newsletter to radio broadcasters, NAB Senior Vp John Orlando said: “An appropriations scenario would make it even harder to control the process and, moreover, would speed any ownership provisions to a conference committee. A conference would give the harmful Senate provisions even greater momentum.” The House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to vote on the bill at 10 a.m. Wed., Rm. 2359, Rayburn Bldg. Sen. Dorgan (D-N.D.) will hold a news conference today (Tues.) on his effort to enact a “congressional veto” of the FCC’s June 2 media ownership rules. Sens. Lott (R-Miss.) and Feingold (D-Wis.) will join him.
The widely publicized split between the NAB and the Big 4 TV networks over increasing the FCC-imposed cap on TV station ownership became a 3-way fissure Fri. when the Network Affiliated Stations Alliance (NASA) announced it would continue to lobby Congress for a rollback of the cap to 35%. The statement came less than 24 hours after NAB had announced it no longer would seek legislation to reduce the cap from the 45% set by the FCC (CD July 11 p4).
NAB Pres. Edward Fritts said Thurs. that his organization wasn’t changing positions by withdrawing support for legislation that would restore the 35% broadcast ownership cap (CD July 10 p8). He said that since the NAB’s June 10-11 board meeting, the assn. had maintained that it would support only a “clean” bill to codify the national TV ownership cap of 35%.
The FCC’s inquiry into technical issues of providing broadband over power lines (BPL) drew largely predictable responses from key players that faced potential competition from the nascent technology and those that had possible interference concerns: (1) Cable was worried about reasonable access and rates for poles owned by utilities. (2) Telephone companies called for uniform regulatory treatment of all broadband providers. (3) Broadcasters urged the Commission to ensure there was no interference for over- the-air broadcast stations signals, including DTV stations. (4) Utilities said existing rules for carrier current systems provided adequate protection against interference.
Top FCC officials said Wed. at the Wireless Communications Assn. (WCA) show in Washington that they expected decisions by early next year on a series of interlocking spectrum issues, including efforts to solve public safety interference at 800 MHz. The outcome of the 800 MHz proceeding has implications for replacement spectrum that Multipoint Distribution Service (MDS) operators seek in the planned reallocation of some MDS spectrum for advanced wireless services.
Support for media ownership limitations continues to mount in the wake of action by the Senate Commerce Committee on legislation that would undo many of the FCC’s June 2 rule changes. Since it was marked up June 19, the bill (S-1046) to restore several media ownership rules has picked up some influential co-sponsors, raising the total of co-sponsors to 38. Senate Minority Leader Daschle (D-S.D.) is the most recent co-sponsor, signing onto the bill by Senate Appropriations Chmn. Stevens (R-Alaska) Fri.
In issuing the text of the FCC’s order Wed. changing the rules that govern the nation’s media, Chmn. Powell said that only Congress essentially could ignore the realities of today’s diverse media marketplace and force a return to the old rules. The 257-page order and 56-page addendum and appendixes held few surprises. The FCC release was more about the commissioners themselves and their widely divergent opinions about the state of the nation’s media. Each issued a separate statement reflective of the 3-2 vote on June 2 (CD June 3 p1).
Several factors are holding back early attempts at deal making under the FCC’s new ownership rules adopted June 2 but not yet effective since they haven’t been published in the Federal Register. There’s much uncertainty because of court appeals to come, whether the rules will be stayed as requested by Comrs. Adelstein and Copps, and a Commission freeze on all transfer applications since new forms haven’t been approved by Office of Mgmt. & Budget and aren’t available.