Those ten studies on media ownership that the Federal Communications Commission promised almost a year ago are out, to the displeasure of the FCC's two Democrats.

"Just when we hoped an open media ownership process was developing here at the FCC, along comes this bucket of ice water," Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps declared in a press release issued today. "These are ten supposedly serious studies put together by teams of economists and analysts over an eight month period. One study alone contains over 13 million data points. Yet the Commission expects the public to analyze all ten studies, and reams of underlying data, and file comments 60 days from today!"

The studies, part of a regimen of public meetings and hearings that the FCC promised when it restarted its media ownership proceeding last summer, cover everything from the state of the radio industry in 2007 to the state of minority and female ownership of media enterprises.

The data for the studies, included on the FCC's special page for the reports, is 65 megabytes in size.

The FCC's media ownership proceeding has invited public comment on its broadcast ownership rules. Up for revision, or elimination, are rules limiting how many TV stations, newspapers, or radio stations a single entity can own in a region, or nationally. In 2003 the Commission dramatically relaxed those rules, only to see a federal court strike its decisions down a year later.

Adelstein and Copps have been calling for a longer, more deliberative process this time around. They weren't happy when FCC Chair Kevin Martin announced the commissioning of the studies last year without telling them—just before Thanksgiving no less. They're even more peeved now.

"This is unfair, unnecessary, and ultimately unwise," their letter concludes, "inviting public, Congressional, and judicial outrage reminiscent of what happened when the FCC tried to loosen media ownership rules four years ago."

"We are told that all of the studies released today will undergo peer review, but many questions are left unanswered. How will the reviewers be selected? How long will they have to conduct their reviews? Will the public have ample time to examine the reviews before the comment cycle ends? Is this peer review - or just a brief purview?"

The public has until October 1st to comment on the studies, and until October 16th to reply to comments.