FCC's Pai Says He is Staying

FCC chair Ajit Pai says he has every intention of staying atop the FCC at least through the end of the President's first term.

That came in a press conference following the FCC's monthly meeting Thursday (Nov. 15).

He was asked whether he planned to stay chairman in the wake of the boosted oversight coming from the new Democratic-led House. "I fully plan and expect to serve as the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission for the next two years," he said.

He had already signaled to Broadcasting & Cable that he planned to remain chairman for the foreseeable future, but that was before the midterm election returns were in and the Democrats' hold on the House committee and subcommittee chairmanships became a fait accompli.

They are expected to launch investigations into various FCC deregulatory actions and the process by which they were achieved.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.