Media group wants hearings

Advertiser Staff

The Honolulu Community-Media Council, a media watchdog group, has asked the Federal Communications Commission to hold public hearings in Honolulu before it decides whether to loosen restrictions on media ownership.

The rule change could determine whether two Honolulu TV stations, Fox affiliate KHON and CBS affiliate KGMB, can be kept by Emmis Communications Corp., an Indianapolis media conglomerate, that has owned both stations for nearly two years under temporary FCC exemptions.

The Media Council asked the FCC in September to force Emmis to sell one of the two stations. Multiple ownership assures "a diversity of viewpoints and a lively competitive market," Media Council Chairwoman Moya Davenport Gray wrote in a letter to FCC Chairman Michael Powell.

Emmis has said that the operational efficiencies of owning two stations allows it to enhance local programming such as news.