The FCC has extended the public comment deadline on its media ownership rule review.
The December 21 date has been extended to January 16. The move followed a request from Media General that the deadline be extended beyond the completion of 10 planned media ownership studies by the FCC, but the commission said it had to balance "the public interest in a complete record upon which to base its decisions with concerns that it avoid undue administrative delay," and so would only grant the brief delay.
The FCC noted that, "once the Media Ownership Studies are complete, the Commission will make them available on its website for public review and comment."
Media General had wanted to consolidate comments rather than file a separate set after the studies are released.
The new deadline still pushes it just past the 2007 Media Reform Conference sponsored by Free Press, the online activist group that helped derail the 2003 FCC deregulatory media ownership rules. That conference is being held in Memphis January 12-14.
