• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, December 17, 2007

Barring any last-minute congressional acrobatics, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin will get his long-desired vote to revise rules on cross-media ownership.

For almost a year, Martin has circled December 18th as the date for a final vote by the five-member FCC on the rule changes, which would make it easier, for example, for a single entity to own both a TV station and a newspaper in a single media market.

Martin brushed off requests to delay the controversial vote during a public hearing by the Senate Commerce Committee last Thursday. He appeared unfazed when Democrats John Kerry of Massachusetts and John Rockefeller of West Virginia warned of congressional action to delay the vote and investigate Martin's management of the FCC.

The proposed rule changes face bipartisan opposition in both the House and Senate: Commerce Committee members Trent Lott (R-MS) and Byron Dorgan (D-ND) wrote a bill that would require Martin to delay the vote for at least 90 days, but it is effectively impossible for Congress to vote on the bill before the FCC vote scheduled for Tuesday.

Meanwhile, in what amounts to a personal rebuke, Rep. John Dingell, (D-MI.), the chairman of the House Commerce Committee, sent a letter to Martin saying his committee's Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation will launch a probe of the FCC's recent actions.

Despite the opposition in Congress, Martin appears to be determined to push through the rule changes before 2008, when the issue could easily become a political football in the upcoming 2008 elections. Including Martin, Republicans hold a majority on the five-member FCC, which means they can change the rule. Although Martin has said in the past that he favors consensus votes, he told Congress on Thursday: "I am not convinced that we would ever reach a consensus on media ownership. I think it is just too politically divisive."