Funferal

FCC rules – showdown in Congress

I spent this afternoon in a bus on my way to Chicago, and when I got here and checked my mail I found that there have been some major developments in the campaign to roll back the FCC rule changes. According to Free Press:

This afternoon, the House of Representatives will vote on H.R. 2799 to
roll back one of the three ownership rules – the national television
cap. Even if it passes, it is the rule with the least impact on media
diversity. In short, it is not enough.
Congressmen Hinchey and Price will introduce an amendment to restore
the crucial newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership ban. It is the most
important ownership rule, and we need the phones to ring off the hook.
Immediately.

So, how is that debate and vote going? Checking at house.gov the latest update (5:39pm Eastern Time) is from about 40 minutes ago, and while not incredibly promising doesn’t (yet) drown all hope:

POSTPONED VOTE – At the conclusion of debate on the Hinchey amendment, the Chair put the question on adoption of the amendment and by voice vote, announced that the noes had prevailed. Mr. Hinchey demanded a recorded vote and pursuant to the provisions of H. Res. 326, the Chair postponed further proceedings on the question of adoption of the amendment until later in the legislative day.

As I understand there are therefore another few hours before the roll-call vote.