Genachowski: Media Ownership Order by Year's End

Provides no timetable for action on indecency complaints

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/19/2012 5:01:05 PM

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said Thursday the FCC is on track to issue an order on its media ownership notice of proposed rulemaking by the end of the year.

The path was cleared for that takeoff when the Supreme Court last month declined to hear broadcaster challenge to those rules.

On a related note, he said in a press conference Thursday that the FCC would act "efficiently" on Tribune waiver requests that the company needs to complete the process of coming out of bankruptcy.

The chairman did not give any indication of when the FCC would act on a raft of indecency complaints, some of which have held up hundreds of TV station license renewals.

The path for that action was cleared when the Supreme Court issued a decision in Fox v. FCC last month. As the chairman pointed out, those complaints have been essentially frozen while indecency challenges worked their way through the court.

Genachowski said the commission is currently vetting both the Supreme Court decision and the complaints. "Now that the Supreme Court has made that decision that is a real focus," he said. Genachowski said he welcomed the opportunity "to ensure that our implementation of the congressional directive [to regulate indecency] is fully consistent with the First Amendment and freedom of speech."