Update: FCC Chair won't testify at Comcast-NBC merger hearing

Kevin Martin, former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, won’t testify Monday at the House Judiciary Committee’s hearing on Comcast’s merger with NBC Universal afterall.

In an e-mail exchange, the Patton Boggs partner said the committee invited him through his office while he was out of town. Martin said he declined the invitation Friday afternoon. The committee's Web site on Sunday night still had Martin listed as a witness.

During his tenure, Martin was a proponent of a la carte pricing for cable television and he sanctioned Comcast for blocking the exchange of files through the BitTorrent peer-to-peer application.

The Los Angeles field hearing, which begins at 9 a.m. PST, won’t be web cast. The hearing will address how the merger will affect diversity in media. A recording of the hearing will be available soon after, a committee staffer said.

Here’s an updated list of witnesses from the Judiciary Committee Web site:

Panel I
Will Griffin, President and COO, Hip Hop On Demand, Round Rock, TX
Alex Nogales, President and CEO, National Hispanic Media Coalition, Pasadena, CA
Samuel Kang, Managing Attorney, The Greenlining Institute, Berkeley, CA
Allen Hammond Phil and Bobbie Sanfilippo, Professor of Law, Santa Clara University School of Law
Alfred C. Liggins, President and CEO, Radio One, Inc., Lanham, MD
Stanley E. Washington, Chairman and CEO, National Coalition of African American Owned Media, Beverly Hills, CA
Paula Madison, Executive Vice President, Diversity, NBC Universal, New York, NY
Jim Weitkamp, District 9 Vice President, Communications Workers of America, Sacramento, CA

Panel II
Suzanne de Passe, Co-Chair, de Passe Jones Entertainment, Los Angeles, CA
Darnell M. Hunt, Ph.D.Professor of Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles
Kathryn F. GalanExecutive Director, National Association of Latino Independent Producers, Santa Monica, CA
Frank G. Washington, Chairman and CEO, Tower of Babel, LLC, Sacramento, CA