Rep. Latta, O'Rielly Team on Broadcaster Forum

Deregulatory Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio) and deregulatory Republican FCC commissioner Michael O'Rielly will get together with Ohio broadcasters for a forum next week. 

Latta is hosting the Nov. 1 event, which is being held at Owens Community College.

According to a Latta aide, in addition to Latta's district, they have invited broadcasters in Lima, Cleveland, Dayton and Columbus.

It is the latest in a series of such forums over the past few years. Look for agenda items to include ATSC 3.0 and media crossownership rules, plus whatever else is on broadcasters' minds—the spectrum auction, perhaps, and the congressionally-allocated funds for the repack.

Broadcasters have been asking the FCC to allow them to harmonize the rollout out of the new transmission standard with the post-incentive auction repack—no answer yet—and have long been asking the FCC to eliminate crossownership rules—the FCC recently said no once again, though it will entertain waivers.

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.