Byron F. Marchant, a senior executive with BET Holdings, Inc., has been appointed to The Media Institute's Communications Policy Council. Kurt A. Wimmer of Covington & Burling has joined the Institute's First Amendment Advisory Council, it was announced today by Institute President Patrick D. Maines.

Marchant is Senior Vice President and Chief Administration Officer of BET Holdings where he oversees the legal affairs of the company and its subsidiaries, ventures with other corporate partners, and the company's administrative affairs.

Prior to joining BET in 1997, Marchant had been a partner at Patton Boggs in Washington and had served as senior legal advisor to FCC Commissioner Andrew Barrett.

Wimmer is a partner in the Washington office of Covington & Burling, representing domestic and international media, telecommunications, and Internet/information technology clients.

Wimmer also advises parliaments and journalists in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union on free-speech issues, and his work has appeared in leading law journals.

The Media Institute is a nonprofit research organization specializing in communications policy and First Amendment issues.