Bill to Block FCC’s Cross-Ownership Changes Hits House

Democrat Inslee, Republican Reichert File Companion to Senate’s Media Ownership Act of 2007

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/19/2007 11:41:00 AM

A pair of House members -- one Republican, one Democrat -- introduced a bill to block the Federal Communications Commission's move Tuesday to loosen newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rules.

Reps. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) and Dave Reichert (R-Wash.) unveiled the Media Ownership Act of 2007, a companion to the Senate bill introduced by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) that is tailored to block that vote -- so much so that the bill actually said it "shall apply to any attempt by the commission to modify, revise, or amend its regulations related to broadcast and newspaper ownership made after Oct. 1, 2007."

The bill requires the FCC to collect data and hold separate inquiries into minority ownership, broadcast localism and the impacts of both on consolidation, and to do so before it passes any media-ownership-rule changes.

The commission already voted to adopt the cross-ownership change, as well as a package of diversity and localism initiatives and proposed initiatives, that the Republican majority indicated wrote "done" on the court and congressionally ordered media-ownership-rule review, although that will have to be written in pencil given that fact that the decision will almost certainly be appealed.