Bloomberg TV announced that FCC Chair Kevin Martin will be on Money & Politics tonight at 9pm ET. And for those keeping score, yes, starting today I’m including Bloomberg info, when I can find it, on ICN…

Tonight on BLOOMBERG TELEVISION®, an interview with Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin. This will be Martin’s first interview since today’s FCC vote allowing companies to own a newspaper and a television/radio station in the same city. The entire interview can be seen on tonight’s “Money & Politics.”

Money & Politics airs everyday at 7pm ET and is repeated at 9pm ET.

Update: Transcript…

PETER COOK: I’m Peter Cook in Washington. It’s been a very busy day in the world of Money & Politics. Major action today from Congress, the Fed, and the Federal Communications Commission that will all have an impact on company bottom lines. We begin with a controversial FCC vote to ease media ownership limits. On a party-line three-to-two vote, the commission agreed today to Chairman Kevin Martin’s plan that allows media companies to own a newspaper and a radio or TV station in the nation’s top 20 markets. In pushing this plan through, Martin argued the media landscape, since the cross ownership ban was put in place back in 1975 has changed. He dismissed criticisms from members of Congress from both parties and from the commission’s two Democrats who argued the rulechange would hurt the public interest.

(Soundbite) Michael Copps/FCC Commissioner: “Everywhere we go, the questions are the same. Why are we rushing to encourage more media-merger frenzy when we haven’t demonstrated, when we haven’t addressed the demonstrated harms caused by previous media-merger frenzy?”

(Soundbite) Kevin Martin/FCC Chairman: “We must respond to the court ’s remand (inaudible) – and to Congress, which requires us to review the rules and we must provide certainty to the media industry which for years has operated in a climate of uncertainty. And so, in sum, I believe that it is time for us to act and I believe today’s very modest relaxation of the one rule not relaxed since 1975 is appropriate.

MR. COOK: Meanwhile, Chairman Martin was backed by the two Democrats on the commission and opposed by his fellow Republicans in another controversial vote that would allow cable companies to serve no more than 30 percent of the U.S. market. Cable companies themselves say new competitors make that kind of cap unnecessary. After today’s meeting, I spoke to Chairman Martin in an exclusive interview. I asked him about the criticism of the change and why he believes this is the right time to relax the media-ownership rules.

KEVIN MARTIN: Oh, well, there’s been a significant change since this ban was put into place in 1975. I mean, newspapers were prohibited from owning any broadcast stations, cable was barely available, satellite-technology wasn’t there and the Internet wasn’t there. Today, you have a whole plethora of sources of news and information and I think it’s important that we recognize that in our rules.

MR. COOK: Do you think this rule change will in fact result in media consolidation? Will companies in fact take advantage of it?

MR. MARTIN: Oh, we hope that they take some advantage of it. But most importantly, I think we put in place a balanced rule that still continues to protect diversity of voices. You know, the rule that we put in place only allows for additional consolidation in the top 20 markets. And even then, newspapers aren’t allowed to buy the most powerful TV stations. So we think this is a balanced approach which will allow for newspapers to get some relief, but still protect the diversity of voices even in those largest markets.

MR. COOK: You’ve heard some of the criticism coming from Capitol Hill, even from your fellow Democrats on the commission. And the vast majority of public comments on this issue express concern about relaxing the current media-ownership rules. How do you respond to that? Did you disregard some of the public comments here?

MR. MARTIN: Oh, no, I think we took the public comments into account. You know, the order in front of the commission had dealt with a whole series of media-ownership rules which we didn’t relax. We didn’t relax – we didn’t do any further relaxation of the radio-ownership rules, the local television-ownership rules, the national television cap or the cross ownership cap between local television and local radio. All we provided was some very modest relief to the newspaper industry. And, of course, as you well know, the newspaper industry is suffering some significant financial distress in recent times. So I think that we did actually listen to the public and didn’t relax many of the other ownership rules.

MR. COOK: The basic criticism from members of Congress, and, again, you’ve heard this before, you’re allowing big media to get even bigger.

MR. MARTIN: Oh, well, you know, I think that what we’ve put in place, as I said before, is a very modest approach. It’s only in the top 20 markets. And in those markets, there’s a plethora of voices available to consumers today. And even then, the newspapers aren’t allowed to buy the largest and most powerful television stations; they’re only allowed to buy the number five, six, or seven television stations in those markets. So I think we’ve put in place a balanced approach.

MR. COOK: How about the process here? Again, you were asked to delay this vote by members of Congress from both parties as well as the two Democrats on the commission. Why the rush here? They suggested perhaps you could get even more public comment before moving forward.

MR. MARTIN: Oh, you know, I don’t think there’s been a rush at all. We started this process more than 18 months ago. We’ve had six field hearings around the country; we’ve had two additional local hearings around the country; we received thousands, hundreds of thousands of comments, and we’ve done 10 independent studies and put them out for peer review. So this process has been ongoing for some time. You know, indeed, Congress put a requirement in that the commission is periodically required to review its media-ownership rules and do a report on them. And the courts, actually, have sent this issue back to the commission back in 2004. So this has been pending for the commission at three years and this process has been going on for 18 months. And I wasn’t sure that any further delay was necessary.

MR. COOK: All right, let me ask you the flipside of this argument. Some media companies think you didn’t go far enough in this rule making. If the media landscape has changed so dramatically, why stop at the top 20 markets? Why limit it simply to this one section of the rule-making spectrum?

MR. MARTIN: Well, as you point out, a lot of folks on both sides think that we could have done more. The people that want to – the media companies want to be able to purchase even more than we’ve allowed, but we’ve done is tried to recognize the changes in the media marketplace today and put in place a modest approach, but also recognize that we want to wade into this issue cautiously because of the concerns that have been raised up on Capitol Hill and by the public about media concentration. So we think this is a way we can proceed on a cautious approach, and we think that is what we’ve done here.

MR. COOK: The last time the FCC took up this issue, when Chairman Powell was in place. He was challenged in court – ultimately sent back to you all. Do you think this will withstand legal challenge?

MR. MARTIN: You know, I can’t make any predictions on whether they withstand legal challenge. We’ve certainly gone through an extensive and exhaustive process of trying to take into account all of the public concerns and everything that has been filed with it, and we have done so what we think is a very reasonable approach, but I can’t make any predictions on that.

MR. COOK: How about the notion members of Congress who are now pledging to block this legislatively, any sense – any concerns about that and how do you think that effort will fare?

MR. MARTIN: Oh, sure. I think that all of the commissioners are concerned when people – when members of Congress are concerned about the actions we have taken. But I think it’s important to remember that it was Congress that passed a law that required the commission to review these ownership rules and actually put into the law a presumption that would change the rules as a result of competition. You know, this is the only rule that has never been changed since the commission put it in place in 1975. All of our other ownership rules have been modified in some way since then to allow companies to get bigger, and this is the only one that never has been changed, and I think that we’ve got to reflect the market realities in today’s marketplace for the newspaper companies as well.

MR. COOK: Let me ask about the other big item on the agenda today. The two Democrats on the commission this time backing you in barring cable companies from serving more than 30 percent of the country. Again, if the media landscape has changed so much, there is more competition out there, why is the cap necessary in this place for the cable industry?

MR. MARTIN: Well, you know, it wasn’t just the cable industry; it was all of the other rules we left in place. We left in place the current radio ownership rules. At the local level we left in place the current television rules at the local level. We left in place the current television rules at the national level, and we also left in place the current 30-percent ownership cap in the cable company. So all of the other ownership rules we left in place in large part because of some of the concerns that you have asked me about. But I think that what we need to do is recognize what’s the industry that seems to be the most challenged in the current environment, and what is the rule that is the oldest that has had no updating whatsoever. And the answer to both of those is the newspaper broadcast cross-ownership rule.

MR. COOK: The cable folks say you have it in for them. It’s the one area where you’re pushing for greater regulation. Your response to that?

MR. MARTIN: You know, every industry that the commission regulates at one time or another says that I’ve had it in for them. The wireless industry this past summer, when we adopted some open-access rules, it’s just going to apply the upcoming auction. When we’ve done things on 9/11, the voice over IP industry had some concerns and we implemented 9/11 on them originally. When I was a commissioner, there were some tensions I had with the telephone industry about some of the unbundling rules.

You know, I think what is important is that the commission keeps in place its focus on the public interest and what is in the benefit of consumers, but try to make sure that what we’re doing is putting in place a deregulatory approach that allows for increased competition among the different companies that we regulate. And that is what we’ve done. You know, we have removed – we’ve removed regulations that allow telephone companies to compete with cable and we have removed regulations that allowed cable companies to have exclusive arrangements in apartment buildings, and it’s those kind of arrangements that actually have, I have believe, led to some of the increases in cable prices that we’ve seen recently. And I think it’s important that the commission takes some steps to help lower those prices by increasing competition.

MR. COOK: Mr. Chairman, just finally, recent days – some your critics have questioned your own management of the agency. They’ve called the FCC dysfunctional and broken. A House committee has even opened an investigation. Do you feel yourself under fire right now?

MR. MARTIN: Oh, you know, whenever you take on contentious issues, I think it’s – the commission comes under fire. This is no – the media ownership debate here is now different than it was when we did it – when Chairman Powell was there. So it’s certainly a contentious issue, and I think the agency always is under a lot of pressure when that happens. But I actually am pleased that the commission was able to move forward today and I think will move forward, you know, on other issues next month.

MR. COOK: And, sir, you’re going to serve out your full term.

MR. MARTIN: Oh, yes. I have no plans on going anywhere.

MR. COOK: FCC Chairman Kevin Martin speaking with me earlier here on “Money and Politics.” Next in the program, we’ll get reaction to what we just heard from one of Chairman Martin’s biggest critics, Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota. Later here on “Money and Politics,” President Bush will sign the 2007 energy bill tomorrow and it will change everything from the cars Americans drive to the light bulbs they use. It also is great news for the ethanol industry. We’ll talk to one company executive about how producers can meet the new mandate to quadruple biofuel production by 2022. Plus Senator Chuck Grassley on how to fix the alternative minimum tax. Lots more coming up here on “Money and Politics.” A packed show for you. Stay with us, much more ahead.