FCC Drops Vote on Minority Ownership

FCC DROPS VOTE ON MINORITY MEDIA OWNERSHIP
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
On Tuesday morning, the FCC announced it would not consider a Report and Order and Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking concerning initiatives designed to increase participation in the broadcasting industry by new entrants and small businesses, including minority- and women-owned businesses.
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-278396A1.doc

* Copps: "I'm pleased that we have avoided a premature vote on minority and female ownership. It's not that this subject doesn't need our urgent attention. It does.... But while we need to act quickly, we must not act recklessly.... we subsequently received a draft Order addressing these complex issues with only three working days to meet with interested parties, it started to feel more and more like-if you'll pardon the expression-a whitewash."
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch//DOC-278447A1.doc

* Adelstein: "I'm pleased that the Commission has backed off its fig leaf attempt to address minority and female ownership. It was an obvious effort to provide cover for more media consolidation, which would only have take media outlets further out of the reach of women and minorities. It was designed to check the box and move on. It's high time we create an independent, bipartisan panel that will look at these issues in a comprehensive and substantive fashion. Media sharecropping is no substitute for media ownership. Given the crisis we face in ownership, we need real actions, not just token gestures. We need to heed the many calls from Congress and diverse voices across America who are demanding we act to improve women and minority ownership before, not after, we vote on media ownership rules."
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-278448A1.doc

* Copps Praises Minority Ownership Extension
http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2007/11/27/daily.13/

* FCC Drops Vote on Diversity Initiatives
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6505320.html