A 2-1 FCC?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
Date: December 21, 2005 10:34:27 AM EST
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] A 2-1 FCC?
Reply-To: dewayne () warpspeed com

A 2-1 FCC?
[SOURCE: Tales from the Sausage Factory, AUTHOR: Harold Feld]

[Commentary] Because he has some problems with the current version of  
the E911 bill, Sen Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) has put a hold on the bill,  
preventing a vote on it. Because he's a supporter of the E911 bill,  
Sen John Sununu (R-NH) retaliated by putting a hold on the nomination  
of Michael Copps for another term as FCC Commissioner. Because Copps'  
nomination is a "package deal" with Republican FCC nominee Deborah  
Tate, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) retaliated with a hold  
on Tate's nomination. Ah, could we try a little holiday cheer,  
gentlemen?  Commissioner Copps can continue (despite the fact that  
his term expired) until the current Congress adjourns at the end of  
2006. So the five-member FCC is now 2 Democrats and one Republican.  
Since the one Republican is the Chairman and controls the agenda, big  
ticket items with real divergences are not coming up for vote. That  
means no major business will get done until Tate is confirmed and has  
a chance to come up to speed. The biggest losers in this are big  
media companies, especially Comcast, Time Warner and Adelphia. All  
the big media companies have been waiting for a majority of  
Republicans so they can try again to relax the media ownership rules.  
But the ones who most urgently need an FCC majority (or at least a  
2-2 split) are Comcast and Time Warner. There is no way their merger  
can move forward without Republicans. Given how the Democrats  
negotiated for conditions on the Verizon-MCI and SBC-AT&T mergers,  
Comcast and Time Warner really want a solid Republican majority if  
they have any hope of avoiding major conditions. They also have  
pressure to get this deal done quickly, as the longer it remains  
pending, the longer investors and Adelphia's bankruptcy creditors  
have to get cold feet. It is now entirely possible that the Senate  
will adjourn without voting on Tate and Copps. When they return, they  
will not only face any leftover legislative business from this  
session, but the highly anticipated, extremely partisan, knock-down  
drag-out Alito Confirmation Smackdown. Unbelievably, it becomes  
possible to imagine the Tate-Copps package held up until February.

<http://www.wetmachine.com//item/399>


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