FCC Hearings happened here in Seattle Friday–and wow, what a turnout!

Over 800 people showed up, packing the hall, staying till after midnight to near uniformly testify against FCC plans to lift the media cross ownership ban.

FCC Councilman Michael Copps rocked the house, bemoaning the lack of hearing notice and hip checking FCC Chairman Martin’s last minute attempt to let Big Media get Bigger. Unfortunately, the board’s GOP tilt means Chairman Martin may well have the last say, regardless of what the people, or the facts say.

An FCC engineer on hand I spoke with marveled at the crowd, telling me it was the biggest crowd he had ever seen testifying before the FCC. Even the Governor spoke, and it all made front page news.

I testified too, to remind the commissioners, regardless of what they decide, that people are already doing something about big media being awful: making their own media. You can check out my speech, and everyone else’s on Pacifica, who broadcast the whole thing, live.

And now Congress is getting into the act, with the Senate threatening to take action to cut the FCC off at the pass.

Even mainstream media is beginning to admit the downside to increasingly homogenized media.

Round one for us, but the fight continues…. stay tuned…..

From Washington Post, via Free Press

By Frank Ahrens

Even though the media landscape has changed radically since the last time the Federal Communications Commission tried to alter its media-ownership rules, a hearing at the FCC yesterday showed that the debate remains as heated as ever.

A range of social, political and consumer groups that successfully petitioned a federal court to throw out the FCC’s 2003 attempt to relax ownership rules is once again fighting to keep limits on how many radio and television stations conglomerates can buy.

The groups testified as the five-member commission works to update its ownership rules to the court’s satisfaction, a task it hopes to accomplish soon.

read more

Source: reclaimthemedia.org

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin plans to hold the last of six official public hearings on media ownership rules in Seattle, before rushing the agency’s 18-month long consideration of the rules to a fast-tracked conclusion by mid-December. The hearing will be the only chance for Northwest residents to weigh in on proposals that would allow giant media companies to grow even more concentrated. While Martin had proposed holding a Seattle hearing in early November, no date has been officially announced.

>> read more