Media Bureau Sets Date for Media Ownership Rules Review

Will begin its quadrennial review in early November

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/29/2009 5:48:13 PM

The FCC's Media Bureau has set early November as the kick-off for its quadrennial review of media ownership rules.
 
That will come in the form of the first in a series of workshops to "help build an analytical and empirical foundation for a Commission decision."
 
The FCC is required to "determine whether any of such rules are necessary in the public interest as the result of competition.”
 
The first workshop will be an effort to collect data on how the FCC should conduct the review, which is required by Congress in the 1996 Telecommunications Act.
 
The bureau says it will seek input from both traditional and new media sources, as well as public interest groups, trade associations, unions and others. There will also be some online element for input, according to a Media Bureau spokesperson.
 
No word on how many workshops there will be in total, but FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has followed through with a pledge that his FCC would feature lots of opportunity for public input. The commission is holding more than 30 workshops on its national broadband plan, for example.