Judges Hard to Read In FCC Ownership Case Argument

Broadcasters may be looking for regulatory clarity on media ownership rules, but if one attorney and a second observer in the courtroom were any indication, it has yet to get any signals of judicial certainty.

The three-judge panel hearing oral argument in challenges to the Federal Communications Commission's media ownership rules in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia Thursday seemed to have trouble with the FCC's decision from both ends of the spectrum. "They were clearly troubled by the arguments that we made about what the commission did wrong. And they were clearly troubled by the arguments that the broadcasters made about what the commission did wrong. We were coming at it from kind of opposite directions. It seems open to the possibility the they will just kind of throw up their hands," said Andrew Schwartzman, who argued the case Feb 24 on behalf of those who say the move was too deregulatory.