Senate Panel to Take Up FCC Rules
By Ted Hearn -- Multichannel News, 9/2/2003 11:17:00 AM MT
The Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled Thursday to consider overturning some or all new broadcast-ownership rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission in June, moving just days after the major broadcast networks launched a lobbying offensive to protect their gains at the GOP-controlled agency.
A spokesman for the committee said the panel would take up the FCC's new budget at Thursday's meeting.
In July, the House used the FCC's spending bill to overturn a new rule that would allow ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox to purchase more stations and reach up to 45% of all U.S. TV households, up from 35%.
The chairman of the Senate Appropriations panel is Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), a strong supporter of the 35% cap. In June, he helped the Senate Commerce Committee to approve his 35% cap bill and to add to it a provision that would overturn the FCC decision to allow TV stations and newspapers to combine in the same market.
Perhaps coincidentally, the FCC's new rules also take effect Thursday. On Wednesday, a federal court in Philadelphia is to hear arguments on a motion to stay the rules for the duration of the litigation.
Meanwhile, the "Big Four" networks Tuesday released a poll by The Luntz Research Cos. as part of a broader lobbying effort designed to show Capitol Hill that the public was not convinced that the FCC's new rules would harm consumer choice.
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