07 November 2007 | Business, Pacifica | Ernesto Aguilar

Pacifica Radio will provide coverage of the FCC’s final public hearing on its media ownership rules, streamed live from KPFT.org. The broadcast happens Friday, 6 p.m. to midnight, Central time.

The Federal Communications Commission has scheduled its final public hearing on media ownership rules for Friday, November 9th. The hearing will clear the way for the FCC to make dramatic increases in the amount of broadcast and print media one company can own. Most notably, the Commission’s Republican majority is expected to lift rules on newspaper and television station cross-ownership, setting the stage for a new wave of mergers and corporate media consolidation. The hearing has been called on five business days’ notice, prompting a sharp critique from the Commission’s Democratic minority, who wrote: “Clearly, the rush is on to push media consolidation to a quick and ill-considered vote. It shows there is a preordained outcome.” But the hearing will also take place in Seattle, Washington—a stronghold of the media democracy movement. Community members and independent media advocates from all sides of the political spectrum will flood the hearing to speak out against allowing further consolidation.

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