The all-day hearings were conducted by the United States Copyright Office of the Library of Congress at the request of a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee.
In an all-day hearing today, also in private, Time Warner and EMI executives tried to convince officials that the deal would be beneficial despite reducing the number of major music distributors to four from five.
But if the tenants' anger was palpable, so, too, was the sense that everyone attending the all-day hearing was essentially powerless to do much to change anything.
After an all-day private hearing involving lawyers for both sides, the European Commission of Human Rights will decide if there is a case to be answered before the Human Rights Court.
The three citywide officials were the stars of the all-day hearing, and each managed to trod a thin line between championing reform and defending practices of the past.
Another undecided detail is whether to conduct all-day hearings or to have morning or afternoon sessions, said one official familiar with the Senate investigation.
But apart from comity over these matters, the all-day hearing offered a platform for Republicans and Democrats to continue their rancor over the fall election.
The all-day hearing was held by the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
On March 17, 1998, the NFLPA and the NFL had an all-day hearing to resolve the case.
The board's decision, made late Thursday night after an all-day hearing in Sacramento, is expected to lead to the adoption of similar plans in New York, Massachusetts and Vermont, which are following California's air pollution control regulations.