FCC delays effort to set media ownership rules

[maddezmom]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. communications regulators on Thursday unexpectedly put off launching an effort to revise media ownership restrictions, unable to agree on several issues, including how many public hearings to hold.


The U.S. Federal Communications Commission had planned to launch an inquiry on what to do with relaxed ownership limits that had been set aside by a U.S. appeals court, but the four commissioners could not agree on the terms of the inquiry.

Disputed issues included how many public hearings the agency would hold, how much money would be spent on independent studies and how long the public would have to comment on the matter, according to one FCC official.

The last attempt to relax limits on overlapping media holdings drew national scrutiny, created alliances between normally opposing political forces, attracted millions of written comments and Congress intervened to set one restriction.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050714/media_nm/media_fcc_dc_2