The Senate Commerce Committee’s panel called “Rethinking the Children’s Television Act for a Digital Media Age” will feature expert testimony from none other than iconic PBS star Elmo, with support from Dora the Explorer and Dragon. Well, they may not testify, but they will be on hand. The true star witness at the 7/22/09 2:30 event will be newly-installed FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. A second panel comprised of various stakeholders will follow the Chairman.
Here is the full list of panelists:
Panel I
Julius Genachowski, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
Panel II
Gary Knell, Chief Executive Officer and President, Sesame Workshop
John Lawson, Executive Vice President, ION Media Networks
Sandra Calvert, Director, Children’s Digital Media Center, Georgetown University
Cyma Zarghami, President, Nickelodeon & MTVN Family Group
James Steyer, CEO, Common Sense Media
The witness list for the Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance on “Advertising Trends and Consumer Protection” was also announced. Appearing at this 10AM session will be:
David Vladeck, Director, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade Commission
Sally Greenberg, Executive Director, National Consumers League
Urvashi Rangan, Director of Technical Policy, Consumers Union
C. Lee Peeler, President and CEO, National Advertising Review Council
Greg Renker, Co-Chairman, Guthy-Renker LLC
Jon Congdon, President, Product Partners, LLC
RBR/TVBR observation: Genachowski is already logging quite a bit of Hill time despite his brief time in office, and there’s every reason to believe he’ll be back on Thursday on the House side for an oversight hearing. He’ll have an ally at this meeting – one of the panelists is from Common Sense Media, the children’s advocacy that Genachowski has been associated with.
