FCC Pushes Back Start Of Genachowski's First Meeting

The FCC has moved the start time of its first pubilc meeting under new Chairman Julius Genachowski from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

The meeting is July 2 and will focus on status reports on the national broadband plan the FCC must come up with by next February as well as an update on the DTV transition, now in its third week.

According to an FCC spokesperson, the delay was to give Genachowksi time to get back from an out-of-town trip. Genachowksi will be traveling to Wattsburg, PA, Wednesday for a broadband event with the Vice President and others.

Given the makeup of the Erie group, which includes the Vice President, and the secretaries of Agriculture and Commerce, one of the Thursday broadband updates will likely be the guidelines for RFPs' for the $7.5 billion in economic stimulus money going to broadband rollout grants/loans administered by the USDA and Commerce's NTIA with counsel from the FCC.

Blair Levin, a former top FCC staffer and Genachowski colleague in advising the then-Obama campaign, was tapped on June 1 to coordinate the development of the national broadband plan which is part of the economic stimulus package.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.