Peter Loge
06-23-2008, 02:30 PM
In an interesting move, the House may block the implementation of the FCC's December 2007 relaxing of the newspaper/television crossownership ban by denying the funding to implement it -- from CongressDailyPM today:
"The House Appropriations Committee is expected to approve provisions Wednesday that effectively block the FCC's controversial relaxation of its media ownership rules, forcing newspaper and broadcast opponents to fight another day. The language would bar the agency from using its funds to implement the rule change, which permits the consolidation of newspaper and broadcast properties in the nation's top 20 media markets and in smaller cities under limited circumstances. Both industries have launched a coordinated effort to convince committee members to remove the restriction, inserted by House Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., during his panel's markup last week. The newspaper and broadcast industries would be forced to seek a remedy on the House floor or during conference negotiations on the spending bill if the section survives Wednesday's full committee markup. The language is part of a larger effort by members in both chambers to rescind the rule change, approved by the FCC's three Republican members in December. In May, the Senate easily cleared a "resolution of disapproval" authored by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., that would nullify it, and Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., has introduced a House counterpart."
"The House Appropriations Committee is expected to approve provisions Wednesday that effectively block the FCC's controversial relaxation of its media ownership rules, forcing newspaper and broadcast opponents to fight another day. The language would bar the agency from using its funds to implement the rule change, which permits the consolidation of newspaper and broadcast properties in the nation's top 20 media markets and in smaller cities under limited circumstances. Both industries have launched a coordinated effort to convince committee members to remove the restriction, inserted by House Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., during his panel's markup last week. The newspaper and broadcast industries would be forced to seek a remedy on the House floor or during conference negotiations on the spending bill if the section survives Wednesday's full committee markup. The language is part of a larger effort by members in both chambers to rescind the rule change, approved by the FCC's three Republican members in December. In May, the Senate easily cleared a "resolution of disapproval" authored by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., that would nullify it, and Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., has introduced a House counterpart."