Washington -- Deborah Klein is expected to move into a key position in a
reorganized Federal Communications Commission, becoming chief of staff of the
agency's new Media Bureau, informed sources said.
The Media Bureau, a new creation to be headed by W. Kenneth Ferree, is FCC
chairman Michael Powell's effort to fold cable, broadcasting and direct
broadcast satellite policymaking into a single branch within the 2,000-person
bureaucracy.
Klein is the current chief of the Cable Service Bureau's Consumer Protection
and Competition Division.
By vaulting into role of chief of staff, Klein would work directly under
Ferree, currently chief of the Cable Bureau, and above the Media Bureau's senior
staff members and three division chiefs.
Powell and Ferree are expected to name two deputy chiefs in Media: William
Johnson, who already holds that title in Cable, and possibly Robert Ratcliffe,
who would move over from his deputy chief position in Mass Media.
The Media Bureau is expected to have three divisions:
- Policy, likely headed by Mary Beth Murphy, now in Mass Media as chief
of the Policy and Rules Division
- Industry Analysis, headed by Royce Dickens Sherlock, now deputy chief
of Cable's Policy and Rules Division
- Engineering, headed by John Wong, now chief of Cable's Engineering and
Technical Services Division.
The establishment of the Media Bureau would mean the formal elimination of
the cable and mass media bureaus.
The International Bureau, the past home of much of the agency's DBS policies,
will remain.
The four FCC members are expected to approve the reorganization and personnel
changes within the next month.
Roy Stewart, current Mass Media chief, is expected to join the Media Bureau
as chief of the Office of Broadcast Licensing Policy.
The Media Bureau's three Associate Bureau Chiefs are expected to be Barbara
Esbin, Sarah Whitesell and Majorie (Peggy) Reed Greene -- all of whom hold that
title today in the Cable Bureau. Rick Chessen, who heads the FCC's digital
television task force, is possibly in line as the fourth Associate Bureau Chief
of the Media Bureau.
