What's the Hill's New Makeup Mean to TV?

What will the Senate and House Commerce Committees look like in 2009? In the House, Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-MI) and Telecommunications Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey (D-MA) handily won re-election, but Rep Henry Waxman (D-CA) apparently wants to challenge Rep Dingell for the chairmanship. Rep Waxman currently chairs the Oversight and Government Reform panel. Five Republican members are leaving: Barbara Cubin (Wyoming), Chip Pickering (Mississippi), Heather Wilson (NM), Mike Ferguson (NJ) and Vito Fossella (NY). None ran for re-election; all five served on the Telecommunications Subcommittee. Because of change in partisan balance in the House, some of the Republican vacancies on the committee may not be filled or filled with Democrats. In the Senate, Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Gordon Smith (R-OR) were in close races, but John Sununu (R-NH) was defeated. All other members of the Senate Commerce Committee were either re-elected or not up for re-election. Committee members who won a return ticket to Washington were Sens Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi), Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), John Kerry (D-MA), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Mark Pryor (D-Arkansas). There's speculation that Sen Rockefeller could chair the Committee.