In 2003, Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) sponsored a resolution condemning the Federal Communications Commission's massive relaxation of its media ownership rules. It passed the Senate by a big but not overwhelming margin: 55 to 40. Thirty-eight Senate Republicans voted against the measure, including Republican John McCain.

But yesterday the Senate by voice vote overwhelmingly approved Dorgan's Joint Senate Resolution repudiating a far less sweeping FCC revision, one affecting only the agency's newspaper/TV cross-ownership rule that allows companies to own more of both types of media in a single market. Just two senators expressed opposition, Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, both Republicans from Georgia.

What a difference a Presidential election makes. . . . more

"We know all too well that there is no 'second chance' to redo a live performance," five parties warned the Federal Communications Commission yesterday. "The white spaces proposals being considered by the FCC could turn 'Music City' into a silent city unless they get it right. As it stands, these proposals will not provide critical protection to the wireless microphone systems that are integral to every show." 

These protesters include Country Music Television, the County Music Association, the Grand Ole' Opry, and Viacoms' MTV Networks. "Nashville Music Requires Interference-Free Wireless Microphones," they title their comments. Most are new recruits to the broadcasting industry's war against unlicensed "white space" devices. The Opry, however, has had a dog in this fight for a while, repeatedly filing against the technology from early last year onward.

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The Federal Communications Commission has launched a new proceeding on how to rescue the part of its 700MHz broadband auction that failed: the D Block of the sale. That portion of the spectrum came with a public safety string attached—the owner has to share the license with a nonprofit that provides national broadband access to emergency responders. No party bid the FCC's minimal asking price for the license. Now the agency says that it plans to re-auction the spectrum "under revised rules."

At today's open meeting, the Commissioners voted unanimously to go back to square one. They were also candid about the difficulty of the problem. "I thank everyone who helped develop today’s item and who is willing to dedicate the next few months to contributing to the pressing and unbelievably important task we find before us," declared Michael Copps. "We’re going to need all the help we can get."

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Two key figures on Capitol Hill want the Federal Communications Commission to investigate whether TV networks violated agency rules when they gave air time to a coordinated Defense Department media blitz that promoted retired military brass as supposedly impartial experts on the war in Iraq. "The American people should never be subject to a covert propaganda campaign but rather should be clearly notified of who is sponsoring what they are watching," wrote House Energy Committee Chair John Dingell (D-MI) and House Agriculture Subcommittee chair Rosa L. DeLauro (D-CT) in a letter to FCC Chair Kevin Martin on May 6th.

The Democrats called the DoD program "unethical and perhaps illegal." Sadly, they're right to include the word "perhaps" in that description. More

The struggle over the Federal Communications Commission's 700MHz auction's C Block just flared up again. Google has written a stern letter to the FCC demanding that the agency force the block's winner, Verizon, to honor the spectrum region's open platform provision.

"The rule requires openness for 'Any Applications, Any Devices'—not 'Any Applications, Except on Verizon Devices,' as Verizon would interpret it," a small squad of Google attorneys told the FCC on Friday. "The Commission must ensure that Verizon understands that this license obligation means what it says: Any Apps, Any Devices."

Google wants the agency to make Verizon promise to adhere to the C Block rules—in writing. . . .  more

What will the Federal Communications Commission decide regarding the proposed XM/Sirius merger? The hell if I know.

But it's fun to come up with predictions, especially if you live 3,000 miles away from Washington, D.C. and mostly get your information via the Internet. One thing is for sure, the path is open to a decision. The Department of Justice has ok'd the union. It's up to the FCC now.

Possibility #1: The FCC will reject the merger outright

This isn't likely, I suspect, but you never know. The FCC's 1997 Order did stipulate that one entity could not own all the spectrum on the Digital Audio Radio Satellite (DARS) band. And XM and Sirius have, after all, flagrantly ignored the agency's requirement that they create an interoperable receiver that could pick up both services. And boatloads of Congresspeople have told the FCC that they hate the idea, including lots of Republicans.

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AT&T has sent a cool response to the Vuze Corporation's "Plug-In" survey of ISPs, ranked by their median rate of TCP reset activity: "Given that Vuze itself has recognized these problems with the measurements generated by its Plug-In, we believe that Vuze should not have published these misleading measurements, nor filed them with the [Federal Communications Commission]." So AT&T Vice President Charles Kalmanek Jr. wrote to Vuze CEO Gilles BianRosa, following the P2P content provider's FCC filing last week. And AT&T insists that it does not insert false reset signals into P2P packets.

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