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Vincent Padois, head tutor at the Pierre and Marie Curie University who teaches robotics and is babysitting the Paris ICub, makes a demonstration with ICub robot, a ?hybrid embodied cognitive system for a humanoid robot" about 1 metre (3.2 feet) high, at the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris September 4, 2009. Six versions of ICub exist in laboratories across Europe, where scientists are painstakingly tweaking its electronic brain to make it capable of learning, just like a human child and hoping it will learn how to adapt its behaviour to changing circumstances, offering new insights into the development of human consciousness. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer

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    FCC cancels meeting at U.S. lawmakers' request

    WASHINGTON
    Sat Dec 13, 2008 12:54pm EST
    Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, conducts a hearing with the former CEOs of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Capitol Hill in Washington, December 9, 2008. REUTERS/Jason Reed

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission said on Saturday it was canceling a December 18 meeting in response to a request by Democratic lawmakers that it pay more attention to a smooth transition to digital television early next year.

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    Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia and Rep. Henry Waxman of California wrote FCC Chairman Kevin Martin on Friday asking him to hold off on other FCC business to focus on the mandatory switch to digital television signals due in February.

    In a statement, FCC spokesman Robert Kenny said that "in light of the letter, it does not appear that there is consensus to move forward and the agenda meeting has been canceled."

    Next week's meeting had been scheduled to consider a plan for auctioning a slice of the airwaves for free Internet and proposed rules to handle disputes between cable companies and content providers -- both potentially controversial matters.

    Rockefeller and Waxman said it would be "counterproductive" for the FCC to take on such issues when there already were questions about how ready it was to handle the transition to digital television.

    Many lawmakers fear that the digital switch, in which about 15 percent of U.S. households will lose their current mode of television, will be troublesome because it requires consumers to buy new converter boxes to ensure they keep television service.

    Signals are being converted to digital to free up airwaves for public safety uses, especially in emergencies.

    (Reporting by Kim Dixon and Glenn Somerville; Editing by John O'Callaghan)
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