FCC (was: Re: clear channel buys amfm)

[Garrett Wollman <wollman>]

<<On Wed, 6 Oct 1999 20:23:06 EDT, Dib9@aol.com said:

> Sorry for the civics lesson but your complaints (and the complaints
> of others) about ownership limits are not with the FCC, but
> Congress.

The Telecommunications Act authorizes the FCC to define by regulation
tighter limits than those specified in the statute, should it
determine this to be in the public interest, convenience, and
necessity.

The trouble is that the FCC is run by a bunch of phone-heads who
really couldn't care less about the vitality of broadcast services.
Even the current Chairman, William Kennard, while not as bad as his
predecessor Reed Hundt, has shown only lukewarm interest in broadcast
regulation reform -- and he's only one of the five Commissioners.
(All of the current Commissioners are Clinton appointees, although the
law requires that `no more than three may be members of the same
political party' so I suspect two may be reappointed Bush or Reagan
people.)

-GAWollman

--
Garrett A. Wollman   | O Siem / We are all family / O Siem / We're all the same
wollman@lcs.mit.edu  | O Siem / The fires of freedom 
Opinions not those of| Dance in the burning flame
MIT, LCS, CRS, or NSA|                     - Susan Aglukark and Chad Irschick