Will Martin Rule?

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has proposed voting on new media ownership rules by mid-December, A court rejected most of the commission deregulatory-rule rewrite in 2003, leaving broadcasters and the FCC in a kind of regulatory limbo.

According to an FCC source, on Nov. 13, Martin would release his proposed rule changes—which will almost certainly include allowing newspaper-station cross-ownership. The full commission could vote on Dec. 18.

But Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) vows to call a hearing on Martin’s plans. And Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) is said to be working on a bill that would “address the ownership issue.”