FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has scheduled a vote on media ownership for the FCC’s November meeting that he says would achieve major broadcast deregulation.

In another 3-2 vote along party lines, the FCC voted on Dec. 14 to eliminate most network neutrality rules, reclassify ISPs, wired and wireless, as non-common carriers and deed most of the internet policing functions to the Federal Trade Commission or Justice Department.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai did not hold back when describing the critics of the FCC’s plan for an ATSC 3.0 rollout.

Congress wants the repack schedule to remain unchanged as made evident by a letter from nearly five dozen members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats, which was sent to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.

Despite some posturing by some Democrats about the re-nomination of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, his continuation in the role seems to be coming soon as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has filed cloture, according to Hill sources.

The FCC's Inspector General late last year agreed to open an investigation into FCC chair Ajit Pai's handling of the Sinclair Broadcasting-Tribune Media merger and related media ownership deregulatory decisions.

According to the Senate Executive Calendar, further debate on FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's nomination will be the first order of business on the Senate floor Monday.

As broadcasters and communication services are still deep in the recovery process in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has issued a new proposal with the goal of helping carriers to rebuilt their networks more quickly.