MMTC Wants Clarification Of FCC's Order On Sirius XM Leased Channels

The MINORITY MEDIA AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS COUNCIL has petitioned the FCC to reconsider in part or clarify its Supplemental Merger Order that requires SIRIUS XM RADIO to offer some of its channel capacity for lease to "qualified" third parties.  The MMTC's objections involve what the MMTC calls the Commission's failure to articulate standards as to who is excluded from eligibility, or whether an entity should be disqualified even if it had previously provided "only a modest amount of programming or if it swapped programming with SIRIUS XM"; the failure of the new definition of "qualified entities" to consider the MMTC's recommendations for non-racial categories; and the "unfocused" nature of the definition of "qualified entities."

The MMTC's petition asks for clear standards to define what "relationships" would exclude an entity, consideration of its three non-racial categories of programmers that it says would contribute to diversity, and confining the "qualified entities" definition to the unique facts of the proceeding by taking official notice of the "Preference for Overcoming Disadvantage" recommendation of the Commission's own Advisory Committee on Diversity, released five days before the issuance of the Supplemental Merger Order.

« see more Net News