FCC EchoStar review team in place

Before EchoStar Communications Corp. has even brought its proposed merger with Hughes Electronics to the agency, FCC Chairman Michael Powell has assigned a team to review the combination.

Heading up the task force will be Cable Services Bureau Chief Ken Ferree. Under Ferree, the two senior leaders will be Jim Bird, senior counsel in the FCC's office of general counsel and David Sappington, the FCC's chief economist.

Additional team members will include Barbara Esbin, associate bureau chief of the Cable Services Bureau; Julius Knapp, deputy bureau chief of the Office of Engineering and Technology; JoAnn Lucanik, of the International Bureau's satellite division; Royce Dickens Sherlock, deputy chief of the policy division in the Cable Services Bureau; Donald Stockdale, economist in the Office of Plans and Policy; and Doug Webbink, an economist in the International Bureau.
- Paige Albiniak