SENATE AIMS RESOLUTION AT CONSOLIDATION, STRIKES POWELL

BY ALICIA MUNDY

The Senate approved a disapproval resolution last week of the new media ownership rules voted on by the Federal Communications Commission in June, but the bill will find no shelter on the House side.

Sponsored by Senators Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Trent Lott (R-Miss.), the resolution was largely symbolic ? it renounced all the rules set up in June, including newspaper cross-ownership and local TV and radio duopolies. Dorgan said in statements afterward that FCC Chairman Michael Powell had made a ?horrible mistake? in changing the rules.

Powell himself issued a statement on the resolution, saying it ?would only muddy the media regulatory waters. It would bring no clarity to media regulation, only chaos. It would create perverse results, such as a return to looser radio rules permitting greater consolidation.? By that he meant that Dorgan and Lott's gesture revived the preexisting regulation that allows a radio company to own almost unlimited numbers of stations in one local market. This, of course, led to Clear Channel's monopoly mess, which is one of the reasons members of Congress so abhor media consolidation these days. This rather contradictory situation was pointed out by Powell staffers.

In the end, however, there is no desire by House leaders to bring a similar resolution up in any committee, never mind a floor vote.

There are other moves afoot to roll back the rule that would have raised the national network cap from 35% to 45%. In July, the House voted 400-21 to return the cap to 35%, a sign that there were plenty of votes to override a threatened White House veto. That rider to a budget bill may soon get a twin in the Senate this week, when it votes on a budget rider introduced by Ted Stevens (R-Alaska). And the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals has not only temporarily held up the rules, but last week decided to keep the case in Philadelphia, meaning it will not be decided on by the usually conservative, pro-business, deregulatory court in D.C.

Depending on the news outlet, the disapproval resolution was a win or loss for Powell. Symbolically, the Senate was telling him they don't like media consolidation, even though ? and this can't be repeated often enough ? the Senate voted in favor of it when passing the Telecom Act of 1996. Last week's vote was only 55-40, which didn't signal a complete loss of confidence in Powell's decision. Powell is said to be waiting to see whether the Philadelphia court confirms that under the conditions the D.C. Appeals Court stated, his decisions were correct.

The networks, meantime, have a lot of back and fill to do. The Senate may vote down the 45% cap, and then lose interest in media ownership (Congress has a notoriously short attention span), leaving the networks fighting in an unfamiliar and potentially hostile Appeals Court.