FCC RELEASES CROSS-OWNERSHIP RULES; DEMOCRATS UNHAPPY Jeffrey Yorke – Radio and Records Nearly seven weeks after the FCC’s five commissioners voted to amend the controversial newspaper-broadcast ownership rule on Dec. 18, the agency on Monday (Feb. 4) released the final order that spells out the day’s discussion and votes, putting them into a detailed in a 157-page document that will become federal regulation.
The monumental changes were adopted in a three-to-two vote split among party lines. The Republicans -- chairman Kevin Martin and commissioners Deborah Taylor Tate and Robert McDowell -- voted in favor, while Democrats Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein voted against the measure, which permits the same media company to own a major-market newspaper and a lesser-ranked radio or television station in the same major market. The FCC’s local-radio-ownership and local-television-ownership rules were not changed by the vote.
As issued, the order clarifies one aspect of the new rule that allows a company to gain a waiver under two new conditions. Notes the order, “Specifically, an applicant can reverse a negative presumption if the broadcast station or newspaper in the proposed combination qualifies as 'failed' or 'failing,' or if the applicant proposes to initiate local newscasts on a broadcast station that previously did not offer local news. “
Issuance of the order and the changes in the waiver definitions did not sit well with Copps and Adelstein. In fact, the order just stirred the pot of simmering unhappiness they share. In a joint statement released by the duo late Monday afternoon, the commissioners said, “After being told we have to 'hurry up' and vote by Dec. 18, the Commission waited over a month and a half before finally issuing this order. Apparently, it took the majority that long to finalize issues left unresolved at the time we voted. There is no reason we could not have heeded the wishes of many in Congress to take the time needed to work these kinks out before the Commission voted.”
The Democrats reminded Washington regulatory watchers that, “from the day chairman Martin’s newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership proposal was announced last November, we pointed out that it was so vague and chock-full of loopholes that it would permit any broadcast station to merge with any newspaper in virtually any market in the country. The order being released today does little to close those loopholes -- indeed, it creates two new ones.”
Copps and Adelstein also argue that the way the final rule is written, “the majority casually grants five permanent waivers to newspaper-broadcast combinations that would not qualify for the public-interest presumption involving top 20 markets and non-top-four TV stations under the new rule.
“The alacrity with which the majority grants these permanent waivers is breathtaking. Our offices first learned that the majority was even considering such waivers on Dec. 17 at 9:44 p.m. -- the night before the agenda meeting -- when we received a draft containing the new language. Up until then, the order contemplated that these newspaper-broadcast combinations would have to be justified under the new rules. The very next morning, the majority adopted the new order and these five permanent waivers were summarily approved.”
They also said they are troubled by “the absence of any discussion of the 'twin principles' of diversity and competition underlying the cross-ownership ban.” They also assert that the waiver issued to the now-closed Chicago Tribune deal “by this same majority suffers many of the same analytical shortcomings as the current order.”
Copps and Adelstein said they knew the new regulations would be lenient, but not as lenient as they believe they are in final form. “We said the new rules were likely to be about as tough as a bowl of Jell-O. What we didn’t realize was that they may turn out to be as tough as a bowl of Jell-O before it’s put in the fridge.” |