WASHINGTON (CNN) - The head of the Federal Communications Commission has "no doubt" the agency will vote to ease restrictions on media ownership Monday, but a key lawmaker said he is concerned about further consolidation in the industry.
The changes are expected to be approved on a 3-2 vote, supported by FCC Chairman Michael Powell.
"There is no doubt," Powell told ABC's This Week. "There will be a vote tomorrow."
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Sen. John McCain, Commerce Committee chairman, which oversees the FCC, said he fears that concentration of broadcast outlets "might deprive Americans of diversity and localization of their news and information." McCain, R-Ariz., has scheduled a hearing Wednesday to question all five FCC commissioners about the new rules.
"I can assure you that Congress will be involved," McCain said Sunday. "Some legislation has already been introduced and if necessary it will be passed."
Under the proposed rules, a single media company could own enough television stations to reach as much as 45 percent of the U.S. TV market, up from the current ceiling of 35 percent. Companies would be allowed to own both television stations and newspapers in all but the smallest markets, and in large markets, individual companies could own several radio and television stations.
Powell said the new rules balance the public interest with concerns about the health of the broadcast industry in the face of competition from the Internet and cable television.
"It's a contextualizing of those rules, modernizing of rules, many of which date back to the Roosevelt era," he said.
Opponents range from the conservative National Rifle Association and the Family Research Council to liberal groups like Common Cause and the National Organization for Women. They argue that eliminating most ownership rules for radio in the 1996 Telecommunications Act led to less competition, less local news and fewer voices being heard on public issues, and that the same thing will occur under this proposal.
Members of Congress, consumer groups and the FCC's two Democrats have asked for a delay of Monday's scheduled vote, but Powell -- the son of Secretary of State Colin Powell -- said no delay is necessary.
"It seems to me only in Washington is an additional 30 days meritorious when the record is complete, when we have heard an extraordinary amount of comment from the public, and we have the specifics that we need," he said.
The FCC held just one public hearing on the issue, but it has received hundreds of thousands of public comments. Critics say that comments run overwhelmingly against the changes, and that the proposal has been publicized widely only in the past few weeks.
Outside the television studio where McCain and Powell discussed the FCC vote, a half-dozen protesters chanted and carried signs protesting the proposed rules. One sign said, "Democracy requires media diversity."
One woman brought a piece of lingerie with the words "Michael Powell, you're cancelled" written on it. She called it "Michael Powell's Pink Slip."
Powell discounted fears that the changes would result in widespread concentration of ownership and predicted they would result in more public interest programming.
"I think you'll see some restructuring, but I happen to personally believe not nearly as much as some of the alarmist rhetoric would suggest," he said. "Just because somebody can buy something doesn't mean it makes strategic or financial sense to do so."
He admitted that similar rule changes in the radio industry in recent years had caused "problems in radio" and he said the FCC is looking at strengthening some rules involving radio stations.
McCain told ABC new rules can "probably " be justified, but said the experience of the radio industry -- where one company, Clear Channel Communications, now owns more than 1,200 stations -- raises "a major concern."
"I do believe there is a situation of continued consolidation within the media which may, over time, deprive Americans of the news and information that they need," he said.
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