MMTC: FCC Should Seek More Comment Before Ownership Vote

The Minority Media & Telecommunications Council is pushing the Federal Communications Commission not to vote on a media ownership order before providing more opportunity for comment on its impact on minority ownership.

MMTC's proposal would push a vote until early next year at the earliest. MMTC President David Honig said that he thought an extra 30 days would help. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has said he wanted to vote the item by the end of the year. "Several parties in this proceeding have encouraged the Commission to grant additional time to consider the impact of some of the Commission's proposals on minority ownership," Honig said. "I believe that thirty additional days for the parties to file comments on that issue and others would be beneficial; for example, a twenty-day lightning round of comments with ten days for reply comments." He continued, "Certainly, the opportunity to improve the record on the relationship between structural rules and minority ownership, on the definition of an eligible entity, on the many specific pending proposals aimed at advancing minority ownership, and on the research needed to ensure that decisions made in this area are well supported and wise would be desirable."