FCC to Review Rule on Media Ownership

The Federal Communications Commission said Thursday that it is considering abolishing the longstanding rules against a single entity owning radio stations and television stations in the same city, a key section of the so-called cross-ownership rule.

The commission, however, did not propose relaxing the ban against cross-ownership of newspapers and radio or television stations.

Under FCC procedures, the commission will now receive public comment on its proposal for an unspecified period before issuing final rules.

These current rules, the commission said in a statement, “were adopted to promote diversity of viewpoint and economic competition on a local level by encouraging diversity in ownership.” Given changes in broadcasting technology and the marketplace, the FCC said it now “questioned the need” to keep those rules intact.

The FCC said there are “considerable cost savings inherent in the joint operation of stations in the same market.” If they were permitted, the FCC statement suggested, perhaps those savings “could be invested into improved programming and technical facilities.”

The FCC has barred cross ownership under the current rules for more than 15 years, but it has increasingly discussed relaxing the rules under the stewardship of FCC Chairman Mark Fowler, a Reagan appointee and passionate advocate of deregulation in broadcasting.

Several have exemptions to the cross-ownership rules, such as Tribune Co., which owns radio and television stations in Chicago as well as the Chicago Tribune. Such exemptions were granted through a “grandfather clause” because those operations were owned before the cross-ownership rules were instituted.

The change discussed in Thursday’s announcement, if executed quickly, could still substantially affect some recent corporate mergers.

Current guidelines, for instance, require that Capital Cities/ABC Inc. divest radio stations in several cities, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, as part of its recent acquisition of American Broadcasting Cos. If the changes were completed before the scheduled July transfer date involving the stations, some of those divestitures might be unnecessary.

The FCC did not specify how long the public comment period might take, but James C. McKinney, chief of the FCC Mass Media Bureau, said the commission could vote on the rule changes by summer.