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  • US lawmakers defy White House, block new FCC media rules

    US lawmakers defy White House, block new FCC media rules

    WASHINGTON: The US House and Senate negotiators defied a White House veto threat on 19 November and agreed to a provision that would prevent the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from loosening rules on ownership of multiple media outlets.
     

    The lawmakers fashioning a huge end-of-session spending bill also decided to provide $13 million that poor students in Washington, D.C., could use to pay for private schooling. The money represents a victory for President Bush, creating the first federally financed school voucher program after years of trying by Republicans.

    Without a specific vote on the subject — and virtually no discussion — negotiators included a provision barring the Federal Communications Commission from letting companies own stations watched by 45 percent of viewers. That means the current limit of 35 percent would remain in effect.

    The decision is a setback for the US president, who strongly endorsed the rule change. The plan would have allowed a company to own television stations that could reach almost half the viewing public in the nation.

    Once bargainers finish writing the bill, it will have to be approved by the House and Senate and receive Bush’s signature. The White House has said it would recommend President Bush veto a spending bill that includes rolling back the new FCC rule. However, few analysts and lawmakers expect him to reject a measure that funds several government agencies solely because of the FCC issue.

    Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, a supporter of retaining the current limits, said he expected “a verbal spanking” from the White House but not a veto.

    In recent days, Stevens and other GOP lawmakers had expressed doubt that the White House would veto the massive spending bill — expected to exceed $280 billion, one-eighth of the entire federal budget — over the media ownership issue.

    Viacom Inc., which runs the CBS and UPN television networks, and News Corp., operator of Fox network, already own local stations that reach about 40 percent of the national television audience.

    However, the two media conglomerates are not expected to have to sell stations because the legislation affects only future transactions that would put a network above 35 percent.

  • US appeals court keeps FCC media ownership review

    WASHINGTON: A federal appeals court in Philadelphia refused to give up jurisdiction over a case that could decide the fate of new relaxed media ownership rules, rejecting a request by television networks and regulators on 15 September
    The US Senate approved a resolution yesterday to roll back new media ownership rules that have brought heavy criticism from a broad range of advocacy groups, shifting the fight to the House where Republican leaders pledged to kill the measure.
    A White House veto threat also looms over the resolution, which the Senate approved with a 55-40 vote. The resolution seeks to undo changes to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations governing ownership of newspapers and television and radio stations.
    It is believed that the changes could lead to a wave of media mergers and ultimately stifle diversity and local viewpoints in news and entertainment. The resolution is the broadest of several legislative attempts to roll back the ownership rules.
    The FCC in June relaxed the regulations, allowing television networks to own more local stations and permitting cross-ownership of newspapers, television stations and radio outlets.
    It sparked outcries from consumer groups who feared that the looser limits would reduce viewpoints and cut local news coverage. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit put the regulations on hold pending judicial review.
    The same court on 15 September voted 2-1 against transferring the case to the appeals court in Washington which had previously ordered the FCC to better justify the rules or eliminate them. The agency came up with the new limits to address that order.
    D-Mass. Rep. Ed Markey said that the House Republican leadership wants to “hide this issue from the American public and the Congress.” He said that the House Democrats would try collecting the 218 signatures needed for a petition to force a vote on the media ownership resolution.
    Major media companies said the changes were needed because the old regulations hindered their ability to grow and compete in a market altered by cable television, satellite broadcasting and the Internet.
    Lawmakers from both parties and a broad range of groups criticised the changes, saying the new FCC regulations gave large media companies too much control over what people see, hear and read. But FCC Chairman Michael Powell said repealing the rules “would bring no clarity to media regulation, only chaos.”
    The White House, siding with Powell, has warned Congress that Bush would veto the measure. But the Senate’s approval would send a clear signal to Bush and Powell that the Congress is staunchly opposed to loosening media ownership rules.
    It could also bolster efforts in Congress to block the FCC’s new rules through other legislation. Media Access Project president Andrew Jay Schwartzman said that the resolution would undo tighter restrictions on radio ownership, the one change that didn’t relax regulations. Television networks, for example, would be able to own local stations that collectively reach 45 per cent of the national audience, up from 35 per cent previously.
    The rules would also lift restrictions on media “cross-ownership,” allowing a newspaper to own a broadcast station in the same market. Major news-media chains, including Tribune which owns The Sun, have pushed for the change. That also means that Media baron Rupert Murdoch, for example, would find it easier to extend his newspaper portfolio in the US, which currently consists of the New York Post tabloid. He would be free to buy another TV station in the nine cities where Fox already owns two – New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, Minneapolis, Dallas, Phoenix, Orlando and Houston.
    The television networks, including News Corp’s Fox and Viacom and the FCC had wanted the appeals court in Washington to review the matter since it had previously dealt with the issues.
    According to Schwartzman the Philadelphia court has set oral arguments for 5 November. Several other legal challenges to the rules from broadcasters and consumer groups are also pending.

  • US Congress votes to block FCC media ruling

    MUMBAI: It is the sheer numbers that must have come as a shock to even the most hopeful – that somehow the 1 June ruling of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) relaxing media ownership rules in favour of the big conglomerates would be overturned.
    The US House of Representatives’ vote of 400-to-21 was as near to unanimity as it could get. Congress has voted to back a bill that would deny funding to the commerce, state and justice departments as well as several agencies, including the FCC, rather than let those agencies use the money to enforce the new FCC rule that would allow America’s largest networks to own 45 per cent of local broadcast stations rather than the current 35 per cent ceiling. The US Senate has already shown strong support for a similar measure.
    Now it remains to be seen how US President George W Bush, who had earlier threatened to enforce a White house veto if Congress voted against the FCC. But the sheer scale of the resistance, might temper Bush’s bombast, especially when he has enough headaches to deal with over the Iraq quagmire.
    Opposition to the FCC vote has come from a wide and diverse cross-section, including the National Rifle Association and the National Organization for Women, as well as local broadcasters who are the most threatened by the onslaught that the big networks like Viacom and Rupert Murdoch’s Fox could get going.
    Senator Ernest Hollings, a South Carolina Democrat who is among the leading opponents of the FCC measure, was quoted by Reuters as saying in a statement: “Since the FCC’s ill-fated decision on June 2, we have seen a torrent of citizen outrage aimed at rule changes that will let big media get bigger, will allow programming decisions made in New York and Hollywood to trump community standards, and will reduce the number of diverse voices available in local communities.”
    Also read:
    US FCC relaxes media ownership limits