DECHERD: BUSH OR GORE, CROSS-OWNERSHIP'S DEAD

By: Mark Fitzgerald Executive Predicts Rule Change



No matter who wins November's presidential election, the end is near for
federal cross-ownership rules that prevent newspapers from owning a
television or radio station in their market, according to Belo Chairman
Robert W. Decherd.



'If it's a Democratic administration, the pressure [to repeal the cross-

ownership ban] will come from Congress,' Decherd told a meeting of
investment analysts in New York City Monday. 'Certainly it will not come
from Al Gore. If it's a Republican administration, count the days. It's
finished.'



Decherd argued that Congress is angry and frustrated by such
'shenanigans' as the cable access dispute earlier this year that
resulted in the ABC network being dropped briefly from some Time Warner
cable systems. By contrast with such 'natural consequences of
consolidation,' Decherd said, the cross-ownership ban 'looks almost
ludicrous.'



While it's waiting for the end of cross-ownership restrictions, Belo,
which went on a television station buying spree last year, is
increasingly forming 'virtual cross-ownership' partners with newspapers,
Decherd said. The first example occurred late last year in San Antonio
where Belo's KENS-TV and Hearst Newspapers' San Antonio Express-

News replaced their individual news sites with a local portal called
MySanAntonio.com. Traffic to the portal is six times higher than the
individual sites combined ever achieved, Decherd said.