FCC eases media-ownership regulations
Los Angeles Times
 |
|
|
In a split along party lines, the Republican majority of the Federal Communications Commission — led by Chairman Michael K. Powell — voted 3-2 to relax regulations that prevented TV stations from merging with local newspapers and restricted how many stations one company could own, both nationally and locally.
The broad revision of long-standing ownership rules clears the way for further consolidation by the biggest media conglomerates, enhancing the economic prospects of companies such as News Corp., Viacom Inc., Tribune Co. and Gannett Co., parent of The Honolulu Advertiser.
But the vote drew threats of congressional counter-measures and protests from critics as diverse as the conservative National Rifle Association and the liberal National Organization of Women.
"If you listen to the spin, you'd believe there's going to be a massive buying opportunity," Powell said about the fear of new megamergers. "I don't think it's going to be nearly the level that some people are expecting."
In the near term, media consumers are likely to experience few changes in the programs they watch and hear, or the newspapers they read. Across time, however, companies are likely to create combinations that might find a newspaper and a TV station sharing stories and resources. Companies that own multiple TV stations in a single city are also likely to gain more leverage with advertisers, perhaps by offering ad packages on multiple outlets.
The new rules will become effective early this summer.
Under the new rules, broadcasters are permitted to own stations reaching 45 percent of the nation's viewers, up from the current 35 percent, allowing TV networks to increase the number of wholly owned stations that carry their shows.
But the FCC retained a rule that prevents mergers among the four biggest television networks — ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC.
Some of the most significant changes will affect TV ownership in local markets. In the nation's nine largest cities, for instance, one person or company may now own three TV stations, compared to an earlier limit of two.
In all but the smallest markets, moreover, the new rules repeal a 28-year-old ban on cross-ownership of TV stations and newspapers. Such combinations are still forbidden in markets with fewer than four TV stations.
Rules restricting local mergers of radio and TV stations were also relaxed.
The FCC acted under a federal law that requires it to review media-ownership rules every two years. The agency was also under a mandate from the federal Court of Appeals to justify the need for some of its media-ownership rules.
Civil rights activists the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Dick Gregory were among a group of about 25 chanting protesters that gathered outside the FCC's Washington headquarters yesterday and derided the rule changes. The FCC also was inundated with more than a half-million e-mails, faxes and phone calls protesting the change in the months leading up to the vote.
The FCC's two Democrats, Michael J. Copps and Jonathan S. Adelstein, sided with opponents, saying the rule changes would reduce the diversity of viewpoints and have a chilling effect on local news reporting.
Just hours after the FCC meeting ended, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators said they had the votes to pass a measure to retain the 35 percent national TV viewer cap.
