The Federal Communications Commission doesn't have much to do now that the whole Janet Jackson Nipplegate fiasco has finally, mercifully been settled. And not in their favor.

Sure, Kevin Martin & Co. can watch the morning shows and hope Jane Fonda says the C-word again, but in the meantime the FCC plans to 'round up a posse and mosey from town to town to spread the word about televisions making the switch to entirely digital broadcasting.

Which seems, um, totally archaic as a method for getting people to switch out of their analog technology. Though perhaps the Internet isn't the most effective means of reaching people who still have bunny ears sprouting from their TV sets?

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FCC chairman Kevin Martin will back the merger of satellite radio operators XM and Sirius, and only because Mel Karmazin & Co. agreed to a number of promises that'll keep subscriber fees from skyrocketing once the two services join, and open up the technology to all manufacturers.

At least two of the FCC's other four commissioners must agree with Martin to push the deal through.

But ya know who probably wouldn't side with Martin? Barack Obama. In a new interview with Broadcasting & Cable, the senator, when asked about the merger, said that he's "waiting for final resolution by the regulatory agencies and would want to ensure that the merger does not give the new firm excessive market power or unduly limit the choices consumers have for satellite-radio content."

Given the concessions XM and Sirius are supposedly willing to make to push the merger through, it might sound like Obama could be on their side. But then he's got this to say about Mr. Martin and, in particular, his goal to dismantle media ownership regulations:

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Democratic FCC appointee Michael Copps will make it his personal mission to turn grey the hair on chairman Kevin Martin's head. Copps, pictured, who's held his post since 2001, wants to know why Alabama CBS affiliate WHNT dropped a broadcast of 60 Minutes last month when a segment about the prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman aired. The news magazine "made the case that Siegelman had been wrongly convicted on the basis of a politically motivated case built by Republican prosecutors and White House political advisor Karl Rove." For its part, WHNT says the blackout wasn't intentional; an equipment failure was to blame for the lost feed. Skeptics remain, which is why Copps wants Martin to formally investigate the issue. Martin, a Republican appointee made chairman by President Bush, said only he would look into the matter. Collecting penalty fees from NYPD Blue and the Super Bowl remain significantly more important. [Reuters]

DEFENSE! DEFENSE! FCC chairman Kevin Martin finds himself defending his recent decisions regarding media ownership, which some (like the Democrats on the commission) claim are filled with loopholes and will lead to a M&A frenzy. Martin says the rule changes were a mere "relatively minor loosening" of regulations. [AP]

Suuure, cable industry critic and FCC chairman Kevin Martin may have helped some media companies – by allowing ownership of both a newspaper and a TV or radio station in the same market, so long as there are at least eight other sources of news, and that the TV station is not among the top four – but he also managed to piss off some behemoths with his voting yesterday.

Namely, Comcast, the nation's largest cable operator, which has been snapping up smaller outfits with hest. But the new rules mean no single company can control more than 30 percent of the cable market, which means Comcast's expansion ends right … NOW.

Unless it can get a court to overturn the ruling. And try, they will.

So while the struggling newspaper industry has been offered a de-regulatory hand-out, the booming (less that WGA mess) television industry was dealt a blow. Not that either side is happy.

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• Ex-Budget Living duo Sarah Gray Miller and Alex Bhattacharji have wrapped things up at Look, the Entertainment Weekly one-off (for now) that hit subscribers and newsstands this week. Depending on the numbers, there might just be another entertainment mag yet. [WWD]

• Kent Brownridge might be quitting Wenner Media on a full-time business, but he's still expected to be in the office as often as two days a week. Someone has to check Jann Wenner's oil. [NYP]

• FCC boss Kevin Martin wants Time Warner and Comcast to help crack down on naughty programming so the dial can be one big family-friendly Disney channel. [LAT]

• The five media stories you won't read in 2006, because they just won't happen. In convenient listicle format. [Business Week]

• Sure, the U.S. military formed the Baghdad Press Club, but that doesn't mean members have to write skewed stories. [USA Today]

• Even though she's appeared on more talking head shows than Toure, Maureen Dowd has only shipped a smidgen over 10,000 copies of her Are Men Necessary? in its first week — and at least a dozen of those went to us. [Drudge Report]

• When Michael Powell chaired the FCC, mere mention of a boob was reason for a script review. But in Kevin Martin's house of censorship, indecency complaints may be up, but so is inaction. [WSJ]

• Turns out Washington Post managing editor Bob Woodward did talk to an unnamed administration official about Valerie Plame's identity. It also turns out that we're tired of Valerie Plame. [WaPo]

• Mary Mapes new book Truth and Duty: The Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power, which hit bookstore shelves Nov. 8, bares a title Judith Miller could've only hoped for. [NYO]

• It's a good thing you didn't hold out any hope for Men's Journal. The Wenner title is facing its latest walk off with exec editor Mark Horowitz following now ex-EIC Mike Caruso out the door. One less desk to tidy. [WWD]

• Gigi Stone did it. So did Greg Kelly and Debbie Feyerick. Now New York 1 anchor Davidson Goldin is ready to break-free from 24-hour NYC coverage and move to a 24-hour news network that only pretends there's a world outside NYC. [Page Six]

New FCC chairman Kevin Martin hasn't exactly been saying much more than "okie-dokie!" to the SBC-AT&T merger and lumping together complaints so he can slam down his red stamp fewer times, but with more force.

But what about those other issues facing American media? Like, say, everything else other than Janet Jackson's nipplage? Business Week was is obviously on the same wave length, posing this:

Anti-indecency advocates want cable companies to offer their programs à la carte, so that consumers can pick and choose the shows they buy. Do you support this idea?

The cable industry should do something to provide parents with more tools to control what their kids watch. Cable operators could put together a package of all channels geared to families and children and sell it separately from channels not for families and children.

Yeah, it's called basic cable: public access and home shopping networks. Kids just love draining mommy's bank account with her not-so-stellar debit card.

The FCC's Front Man Talks [Business Week]
Related: FCC tries its best at communicating

The conservative right must've grown exhausted after Janet Jackson's Superbowl nip slip, as the number of indecency complaints filed with the FCC dropped from 157,000 in the year's first quarter to just 6,200 in the second quarter.

Which makes FCC chair Kevin Martin's job much easier and gives him more time to focus on that which matters, like golf.

But rather than take advantage of the fewer number of complaints and give each a bit more attention, the Michael Powell replacement is addressing them as one big steaming pile of shit he couldn't be bothered with.

First, the agency hoped to establish clearer guidelines for interpreting indecency, and thus address one of the industry's biggest complaints — that FCC indecency decisions are frustratingly inconsistent. "But they were making no headway on that," a well-placed FCC source says.

Second, Martin felt the commission's routine of voting on complaints in piecemeal fashion was contributing to the inconsistency. "Better to deal with a large number all at once," the source says. The hope is to provide a clearer — or less confused — idea of how the FCC under Martin will approach indecency.

That's right: The way to send a clearer message that will distinguish what it is to be indecent is to group complaints into one big heap and slam the gavel and call it a day.

After Eliot Spitzer's much touted payola crackdown that saw SongBMG paying $10 in fines and admitting publicly to wrongdoing, the FCC is proving the be the buzz kill we took it for.

Rather than pounce on the recording industry before it has time to launch a PR assault, the FCC is taking a backseat approach to prosecuting those involved in the latest pay-for-play scandal. While democratic FCC panel member Jonathan Adelstein wants immediate action, republican chairman Kevin Martin has yet to announce an official inquiry.

The FCC has two seats to be filled, and it's rumored Martin wants to hold off until President Bush appoints new panel members before going tackling the payola revelations. Or at least until his friends in the biz can work out the kinks in their defense.

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