/ 07.07.2010 12:00AM
FCC Releases Agenda for Chicago Forum on Comcast-NBCU Merger
WASHINGTON: The FCC’s Media Bureau
today announced the agenda for its July 13 public forum to be held in Chicago.
The event will be held at the Northwestern University Law School Thorne Auditorium
from 1 to 8 p.m. local time. Two panels will discuss Comcast’s proposed
majority takeover of NBC Universal.
FCC Commissioner Michael Copps will open the event. He’ll be followed by the
first panel covering online video distribution. Panelists will include John
Flynn, FCC senior counsel to the chairman for transactions; Jeffrey Blum, deputy
general counsel for Dish Network; Susan Crawford, professor at Cardozo Law
School, and visiting research collaborator at Princeton University; Markham C.
Erickson, partner at Holch & Erickson LLP, and executive director of NetCoalition;
Travis Parsons, senior director of business development for Sezmi; Josh Silver,
president and CEO of Free Press; Scott Wallsten, vice president for research
and senior fellow for the Technology Policy Institute; and Susan Whiting, vice
chair of The Nielsen Co.
The second panel will consider cable and satellite distribution. William Lake,
chief of the FCC’s Media Bureau will moderate. Panelists include Colleen
Abdoulah, president and CEO of WOW! Internet, Cable and Phone; Tyrone Brown, president
of the Media Access Project; Brian Lawlor, president-chairman of
NBC Television Affiliates and senior vice
president of Television for The E.W. Scripps Co.; William Rogerson, professor
of economics at Northwestern University; Ken Solomon, chairman & CEO
of The Tennis Channel and James Speta, professor at the Northwestern
University School of Law
The event is open to the public. Audience members will have the chance to ask
questions during an open mic segment from 6-8 p.m. Individuals wishing to
comment must sign up at the registration desk beginning at 5 p.m. Slots will be
assigned on a first-come, first-served basis. The forum also will be carried
live over the Internet on the FCC’s
Live Web
page. Questions can be submitted via e-mail to livequestions@fcc.gov and
via Twitter using the hash tag, #fccNBC.
Comcast first proposed to take a majority stake in NBCU last December. The FCC gives
itself 180 days to make a determination on such deals, but it’s been stopped
twice for the Comcast-NBCU deal. The
shot clock
was stopped April 16-June 3 to extend the opportunity for public comments, and
again as of June 11 to give both companies more time to provide requested
information. That information has now been submitted and the shot clock should
be restarted, according to John Eggerton of Broadcasting
& Cable.