Obama’s FCC May Shift Strategies

The FCC will have a new chairman under the Obama administration, and the commission may find it has new priorities, as well, writes Radio Ink.

Obama has been a strong opponent of media consolidation in the past, threatening to work to deny FCC funding to implement a proposed rules change in the Media Ownership Act.

He has also disagreed with the FCC in terms of media localism and diversity, saying that he endorsed rules calling for “greater coverage of local issues and greater responsiveness of broadcasters to the communities they operate in” whereas the FCC appears to push consolidation over diversity.

He appears to be more closely in agreement with the current FCC over net neutrality, which calls for equal access to bandwidth for all users and applications. The FCC, currently under chair Kevin Martin, will likely continue to enforce a set of net neutrality rules with an Obama-appointed chair, according to the article.