The Wall Street Journal is saying that the back room negotiating is in and both parties are ready to determine the membership of the FCC going forward. The Democratic nominees have been known for some time — Julius Genachowski is destined for the chair and Mignon Clyburn for the third Democratic seat. Michael Copps will step down as Acting Chair but continue to serve.
On the Republican side, it had been thought there might be two new nominees, but now WSJ is saying that Robert McDowell will be given another terms and Meredith Atwell-Baker will take the junior Republican seat. She is best known to broadcasters for running the DTV coupon program during most of 2008 and the beginning of 2009.
According to WSJ, the confirmations may be broken up into two separate hearings during the summer.
Democrat Jonathan Adelstein is headed for the Department of Agriculture, but will likely stay on until all Democratic seats are filled.
Atwell-Baker shares membership with former FCC Chair Michael Powell in a very exclusive group – Americans who can call a former Secretary of State “Dad.” In her case, the SOS was James Baker.
RBR/TVBR observation: It doesn’t seem to happen often when it comes to identifying FCC commissioners, but in this case, so far, the conventional wisdom has been right on track from the get-go. So we’d say WSJ’s prediction has a high probability of coming true.
