Maybe They’ll Invite the Dixie Chicks Posted by Bob at 11/15/06 01:06 PM

The Federal Communications Commission has just announced it will hold its second official public hearing on its media ownership rules in Nashville on Monday, December 11.

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin has promised the commission will hold six such public hearings. The first one was held early last month in Los Angeles, and it was a donnybrook. It attracted entertainment executives, rock stars and hundreds of just plain folks, nearly all of whom urged the agency not to loosen it current media ownership rules.

The FCC has not yet announced a location for the Nashville hearing, nor who will be invited by the commission to testify. The format for the Los Angeles hearing featured panels of “experts,” mostly from the media industry and public interest groups. Members of the public who had signed up were also given an opportunity to deliver short statements.

The Los Angeles hearing was packed, along with overflow crowds who couldn’t get in who watched the proceedings on big screen televisions.

The FCC says “this second hearing will provide an opportunity for those in the Nashville area to broadly discuss media ownership issues as well as those of concern to their community.”

FCC Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, the commission’s two Democrats, have been holding their own set of unofficial hearings on media ownership at locations throughout the country.

We will let you know when the FCC releases more details on the Nashville hearing.

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