FCC holds Seattle public hearings on deregulation

FCC deregulation was overturned by the courts several years ago. The deregulation would have raised already unreasonable caps on the percent of media outlets that can be owned by a single company in any market (i.e. locality). Further, it would have eliminated "cross-ownership" restrictions which prohibit a company from holding more than one type of media company - radio, television, and newspapers - in a single market. President Clinton's 1996 deregulation bill is responsible for the excessive concentration and deteriorating quality of media.

During that 2003 process, an unprecidented millions of citizens submitted written comments and testimony at public hearings, with over 99% firmly against further consolidation. Big media companies, the only constituency in favor, negotiate behind closed doors and don't even bother to show up in public hearings. The deregulation was approved anyway, then overturned by the courts in a Prometheus Radio Project suit.

The current process was started because the judge ordered the FCC to review and resubmit the proposal. Republican Commissioner Kevin Martin appears to be simply dusting off the elimination of cross-ownership rules in the prior proposal and is reportedly planning to ram it through despite continued opposition from all segments of the public and harsh criticism from many Congressmembers of both parties. After the last process, it was discovered that the FCC hid a court-mandated report which quantifies that consolidation hurts local media, while continuing to assert that consolidation brings about more localism in media. Despite the embarrassing discovery, he continues these baseless assertions throughout the current proceedings.

The FCC operates on a partisan basis, with two Commissioners from each party and the Chairperson appointed by the current presidential adminsitration. The deregulation is purely Republican, with Republicans currently holding the 3-2 voting majority.

Democratic Commissioners Copps and Adelstein speak out vehemently and vote against further deregulation. While many non-LPFM activists in the growing media democracy movement shamelessly heap praise on these two at public hearings, they do absolutely nothing to turn back the current oligopoly or hold big media responsible for its escalating litany of abuses.

Despite a bill mandating an Low Power FM Rasdio (LPFM, or microradio) licensing process early this decade, the Commissioners continue to turn their back on the blatant lack of compliance with this mandate, and appear to have no interest at all in providing a more level playing field for activist media outlets. As a result of FCC policies, no dial spaces exist in urban areas for LPFM outlets.

Hopefully, activists will eventually force a disinterested Congress, heavily bankrolled by the big media lobby group the National Association of Broadcasters, to reign in the out of control FCC and the big media companies who drive it and profit excessively.

In the first MP3, hear Timothy Carr from the media reform group Free Press, during the public comment period (2 minutes)