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 NEWS  Federal  Communications  Commission  445  12  th  Street,  S.  W.  Washington,  D.  C.  20554  This  is  an  unofficial  announcement  of  Commission  action.  Release  of  the  full  text  of  a  Commission  order  constitutes  official  action.  See  MCI  v.  FCC.  515  F  2d  385  (D.  C.  Circ  1974).  News  Media  Information  202  /  418-  0500  Internet:  http://  www.  fcc.  gov  TTY:  1-  888-  835-  5322  FOR  IMMEDIATE  RELEASE  NEWS  MEDIA  CONTACTS: 
 February  23,  2004  Jordan  Goldstein:  (202)  418-  2000  Johanna  Mikes  Shelton  :  (202)  418-  2300 
 FCC  COMMISSIONERS  COPPS  AND  ADELSTEIN  REACT  TO  BUREAU  PUBLIC  NOTICE  ON  MEDIA  OWNERSHIP  RULE 
 Washington,  DC  –  On  February  19,  2004,  the  Media  Bureau  issued  a  Public  Notice  seeking  comment  on  one  part  of  the  Commission’s  June  2  nd  media  ownership  decision.  In 
 particular,  the  Bureau  Notice  seeks  comment  on  the  impact  on  the  so-  called  “UHF  Discount”  of  recent  legislation  on  the  national  television  ownership  cap.  Under  the  outdated  UHF  Discount 
 policy,  UHF  stations  are  considered  to  reach  only  50  percent  of  the  households  that  a  VHF  station  reaches,  notwithstanding  that  the  majority  of  consumers  receive  identical  UHF  and  VHF 
 signals  over  cable  or  satellite  facilities. 
 Commissioners  Michael  J.  Copps  and  Jonathan  S.  Adelstein  reacted  to  the  Public  Notice:  “We  were  surprised  to  learn  last  Friday  that  agency  staff  had  released  a  Public  Notice  seeking 
 comment  on  the  UHF  Discount.  With  an  issue  of  this  import,  it  appears  to  us  to  be  a  highly  unusual  and  irregular  step  for  the  staff  to  take  without  input  from  members  of  the  Commission. 
 The  timing  of  this  move  --  coming  little  more  than  a  week  after  the  oral  argument  in  this  case  coupled  with  an  immediate  communication  from  the  FCC  General  Counsel  to  the  Third  Circuit 
 seeking  to  hold  the  issue  in  abeyance  based  on  the  staff  Public  Notice  --  may  lead  to  questions  of  whether  this  is  an  attempt  to  avoid  a  substantive  court  decision  on  an  apparent  weakness  and 
 inconsistency  in  the  June  2nd  media  ownership  order.” 
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