At a tense Open Meeting, the Federal Communications Commission announced a 120 day public comment cycle on its broadcast ownership policies.

"Today, the Commission opens a process to review its media ownership rules, a topic of vital importance to our democracy," FCC Chair Kevin Martin told the gathering. "We begin this dialog in a neutral and evenhanded fashion."

With that, the FCC takes up what it left off in 2004 when the Third Circuit Court of Appeals issued a stay on its decision to relax key limits on media ownership.

In 2003 the FCC decided to:

• Allow corporations to own more TV stations in the same market.
• Expand the percentage of U.S. TV households a media corporation could reach from 35% to 45%.
• Make it easier for a corporation to cross-own TV stations, newspapers, and radio stations in the same market.

Media activists took the decision to court. In Prometheus Project vs. FCC the Third Circuit declared that the Commissions methodology, which assumed a rough equality between Internet and traditional media sources, made no sense. The Court ordered the Commission back to square one, which began at this mornings meeting.

Warnings from Democrats

But both Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, Democrats who participated as dissenters in the earlier media ownership review, expressed skepticism about the new proceeding.

"I am deeply disappointed that this Notice does not contain a specific, up-front commitment to share proposed media concentration rules with the American people in advance of a final vote," Copps said. "I do not see how we can be transparent and comply with the dictates of the Third Circuit without letting the American people know about and comment on any new standards of measurement that we adopt in developing our ultimate decision."

Copps also said that the Commission's new proceeding addresses neither the impact of media ownership rules on local broadcasting or on minority ownership.

"Why won't we commit to studying the state of minority media ownership in this country and the impact that consolidation has had?" Copps asked. "Are we afraid of what the facts might show?"

Adelstein echoed Copps concern about transparency, wondering out loud if the public will have a chance to comment on specific rules changes before they are made.

"The large media companies wanted, and today they get, a blank check to permit further media consolidation," Adelstein said. "The Notice is so open-ended that it will permit the majority of the Commission to allow giant media companies to get even bigger at the time, place and manner of their choosing."

FCC Chair Kevin Martins Republican colleagues said relatively little at todays meeting, which was the first for new Commissioner Robert M. McDowell. Martin responded to Copps and Adelstein by promising at least six public hearings during this unusually long public comment cycle, and urged his Democratic colleagues to give the Commissions Republican majority a chance.

"They want to grade our performance and give us an F, but this is only the first day of class," Martin told the audience.

In the end all five Commissioners voted to launch the proceeding, with Copps and Adelstein dissenting in part.

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