WASHINGTON -- The Senate Commerce Committee has slated a July 15 nomination hearing for Mignon Clyburn and Meredith Attwell Baker for the last two spots on the FCC.
Baker is a former Bush administration official -- the acting head of National Telecommunications and Information Administration who was widely praised for her stewardship despite the problems with funding for digital-to-analog TV converter boxes.
Clyburn is a South Carolina public service commissioner and daughter of House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.). She is the chair of the Washington Action Committee of the National Assn. of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.
Baker and Clyburn's nominations must be vetted in the Senate Commerce Committee and confirmed by the full Senate before they can be installed.
They would join newly appointed chairman Julius Genachowski and Michael Copps, both Democrats, and Republican Robert McDowell to round out the commission, which is beginning the Herculean agenda of data collection and decisionmaking, with a focus on broadband rollout.
(John Eggerton writes for Daily Variety sister publication Broadcasting & Cable.)
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