Broadcasting & Cable

Great news!  The FCC has a new chairman!  And speaking of filing FCC complaints (scroll down to yesterday's blog post) –  maybe IBLTV will finally get some action on the PTD filed over three years ago.

The full Senate agreed by unanimous consent Thursday to confirm Julius Genachowski as the next chairman of the FCC.

Genachowski is now cleared to take the helm, with acting Chairman Michael Copps returning to commissioner status after a roundly-praised spearheading of the final push toward the analog shutoff-initially slated for Feb. 17 before being postponed until June 12.

The president must still sign the commissioning papers and [Genachowski] must be sworn in, but historically that has happened in a matter of days. That means Genachowski could be presiding over his first meeting July 2, the FCC's next public meeting.

Still to be determined is the president's choice for the other Democratic seat – which Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein is vacating for a post at the USDA's Rural Utilities Service – and an empty Republican seat.

Genachowski, a former Harvard Law School classmate of Obama's, helped draft the Obama campaign's technology policy plan, which some at the time boiled down to “open government, open networks, and open markets.”

The FCC has to come up with a plan by Feb. 17 of next year -a sort of broadband hard date -to roll out broadband service to the nation.

At his confirmation hearing, Genachowski pledged his support for media diversity and ubiquitous broadband and his opposition to the fairness doctrine. He also said he would uphold indecency regulations but also looked to parental content controls as a way to manage media content. One of his first deadlines will be a late August report to Congress on the state of those content controls, both the V-chip/ratings system and cross-platform controls.

Free Press was thrilled. “We are thrilled that Julius Genachowski has finally been confirmed,” said Executive Director Josh Silver. “It's time for the FCC to tackle some of the pressing issues that have been put on hold, such as bringing fast, affordable, open broadband to everyone, spurring innovation and competition and diversifying media ownership.

The agenda awaiting Genachowski on day one is enormous but there is no doubt that he is the right man for the job. We are confident that the public interest will be at the forefront of the Genachowski FCC, and look forward to working with him.”