Tate Tenure at FCC Coming to an End This Week
With the 110th Congress expected to adjourn as early as Friday, FCC Commissioner Deborah Tate is expected to leave the commission this week. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, however, told reporters Tuesday he wasn’t ready to announce when he would leave the commission, though he has hinted in the past it will likely be before the Barack Obama inauguration Jan. 20. Martin could stay on, but Tate must leave under federal law as soon as Congress adjourns “sine die.” With Tate’s and Martin’s departures the commission would potentially be left with three members in late January.
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Tate was lauded by her fellow commissioners during Tuesday’s brief FCC meeting, held by teleconference, which was called largely to satisfy a requirement that commissioners meet in public each calendar month. She didn’t say during the meeting exactly when she would leave.
Martin opened the meeting observing that the commission last week released maps highlighting changes to antenna and signal patterns broadcasters are making as a result of the DTV transition. “I'm glad we have those maps out now,” Commissioner Michael Copps said in response. “Now we have the huge job, the broadcasters and us and everyone else, to get the word out to people so that they can know beforehand what’s going to happen to them and take whatever steps are appropriate.”
Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, calling in from Arizona where he’s holding meetings this week on the DTV transition, said the maps will help get the message out to the public before the February changeover. “It’s important that we and the broadcasters get the word out about the areas that currently may be getting service but may lose service under the digital TV transition,” Adelstein said. “It’s incumbent upon broadcasters to inform viewers earlier rather that later about what the prognosis is for their particular area.”
All four commissioners bid official good-byes to Tate during the meeting. “She’s been a tireless advocate on behalf of children,” Martin said. “She’s been able to bring her experience as a state commissioner to many of the complicated issues we faced.” Commissioner Robert McDowell said Tate’s history as former chairman of the Tennessee Regulatory Authority “was evident in her leadership of the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service, the Federal- State Joint Board on Jurisdictional Separations, and the Federal-State Joint Conference on Advanced Telecommunications Services.” Copps said Tate “led a charge for broadcasters and advertisers to cut back on advertising of unhealthy foods that contribute so measurably to our country’s crisis of childhood obesity.”