FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said Thursday the FCC is on
track to issue an order on its media ownership notice of proposed rulemaking by
the end of the year.
The path was cleared for that takeoff when the Supreme Court
last month declined to hear broadcaster challenge to those rules.
On a related note, he said in a press conference Thursday
that the FCC would act "efficiently" on Tribune waiver requests that
the company needs to complete the process of coming out of bankruptcy.
The chairman did not give any indication of when the FCC
would act on a raft of indecency complaints, some of which have held up
hundreds of TV station license renewals.
The path for that action was cleared when the Supreme Court
issued a decision in Fox v. FCC last month. As the chairman pointed out, those
complaints have been essentially frozen while indecency challenges worked their
way through the court.
Genachowski said the commission is currently vetting both
the Supreme Court decision and the complaints. "Now that the Supreme Court
has made that decision that is a real focus," he said. Genachowski said he welcomed the
opportunity "to ensure that our implementation of the congressional directive
[to regulate indecency] is fully consistent with the First Amendment and
freedom of speech."
