NAA to FCC: Drop cross ownership ban

By: Mark Fitzgerald NAA to FCC: Drop cross ownership ban
Emergency petition filed after rule change

Disappointed that the Federal Communications Commission (fcc) relaxed its local broadcast ownership rules but retained the ban on newspapers owning radio or tv stations in the same market, the Newspaper Association of America (naa) filed an emergency petition Aug. 23 asking for an immediate suspension of the cross-ownership ban.
The new fcc rules, enacted by an Aug. 5 order, allow existing tv station owners to own a second tv station in the same market as long as eight full-power, independently owned stations remain after the merger.
That rule can be waived if the station is buying a "failed" or "failing" station, the fcc said, and is the "only reasonably available buyer." In some markets, owners of two tv stations will also be able to own as many as six local radio stations.
Broadcasters applauded the relaxation of rules. They predicted that since only a limited number of markets qualify for expanded ownership, networks and other big station owners will move quickly to acquire smaller groups with stations in their markets. Because the cross-ownership rule remains intact, however, newspapers will be shut out of that competition, the naa complains.
"After the conclusion of such a 'broadcast land rush,'" the naa petition states, "a belated repeal of the newspaper/broadcast restriction would yield scant consolation to the nation's newspapers."
When it relaxed its longtime "one-to-a-market" rule, the fcc noted that local broadcast tv faces new competition from 11,600 cable systems available to 94 million households; 240 direct broadcast satellite channels serving 7 million homes; and another 4 million homes with satellite dishes, open video systems, and other tv transmission systems. The same argument should apply to newspapers, the naa says.
"For the government to lock out local newspaper publishers is unfair, uncompetitive, and, frankly, bizarre in a world marked by hundreds of over-the-air and cable channels, broadcasting nationwide from satellites, and the ubiquitous nature of the Internet," says naa president and ceo John F. Sturm.
Despite the fcc's failure to drop newspaper cross-ownership rules in its most recent order, the ban's time is limited, says Shaun Sheehan, vice president of Tribune Co.
"The entire issue is overwritten with politics and emotion, frankly," Sheehan says. "If it were examined on a factual basis, we feel confident it would be washed out. ? We're finding the arguments of those who seek to keep it are growing thinner and thinner."
Chicago-based Tribune Co. has long opposed the ban and sought its repeal when it bought WDZL-TV in Miami
in 1997. It is operating the station on
an fcc waiver because it also owns the Sun-Sentinel newspaper in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
"Under the waiver, we can't use the editorial product to build the station, which is a real shame," Sheehan says.
"It's still the seventh station in the market." The station uses a newscast from another TV outlet because it cannot use Sun-Sentinel's news- gathering prowess,
he adds.
The fcc action won't keep the company from seeking other stations, Sheehan says.
"We would seek relief or be in court immediately," he says.
"We're aggressive about it, and it's good to see we're not alone. For a long time, the naa ? and even the National Association of Broadcasters didn't take a position on this."
"For the government to lock out
local newspaper
publishers is unfair,
uncompetitive, and,
frankly, bizarre ?"
? John F. Sturm,
naa president and ceo
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(copyright: Editor & Publisher August 28, 1999) [Caption]