WASHINGTON — As Congress winds down for the year, time is running short for efforts to roll back media ownership rules that were relaxed this summer by the Federal Communications Commission.
Opponents of increased media consolidation, including some influential Republican lawmakers, are vowing to repeal one of the most controversial new FCC rules as part of a massive appropriations bill expected to be passed later this week.
But despite some early momentum in both the House and Senate, it appears that the major TV networks -- bolstered by the threat of a presidential veto -- have made headway in beating back attempts to reinstate a rule that prevents a broadcast company from reaching more than 35% of the country's TV viewers. The FCC voted June 2 to raise the cap to 45%.
"This is going to be subject to 'Final Jeopardy' negotiations," said Eric Ueland, deputy chief of staff to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.).
Frist and Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) told reporters Tuesday, in separate news conferences, that the FCC dispute had not yet been resolved; Frist said he expected it to be settled within days.
"My guess is that it will be dropped," said John Feehery, a spokesman for House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), referring to a provision in an earlier appropriations bill that would reinstate the 35% cap. He added that congressional leaders were worried about a threat from President Bush to veto the spending bill, which includes vital funding for several government agencies, if it included the 35% cap provision.
"I don't think we want to chance it," he said.
But an unusual bipartisan coalition of lawmakers is pushing to salvage the provision, and one House Republican aide said Tuesday that he was confident it would be part of the final compromise.
Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, has said repeatedly in recent days that he intends to push to keep the 35% cap provision, and he predicted that Bush would not veto the legislation in the face of strong support in Congress.
The battle started in June when the FCC voted 3 to 2 to relax many long-standing media ownership rules, including the 35% cap and a ban against owning a TV station and newspaper in the same market. (Tribune Co., parent of the Los Angeles Times, lobbied to relax many of the FCC rules.)
