Singleton First to Take Advantage of New FCC Rules

By: Mark Fitzgerald Updated at 6 p.m. EST, June 5

In the weeks before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) lifted the ban on same-city ownership of a newspaper and a television station in most markets, the conventional wisdom in the newspaper industry was that there would not be a "gold rush" of papers chasing broadcast properties.

Yet, barely 24 hours after the FCC lifted the ban, the first newspaper indicated Tuesday that it was ready to buy a TV station -- right in the heart of the historic Klondike Gold Rush country.

William Dean Singleton said his MediaNews Group Inc., which publishes The Fairbanks (Alaska) Daily News-Miner, is likely to exercise its three-year-old option to buy KTVF-TV, a NBC affiliate in Fairbanks owned by Clear Channel Communications Inc. The option is contingent, among other things, on an end to the common-ownership restriction of a newspaper and broadcast property in the same market. Singleton said before the option is exercised, the company will have to perform the usual due diligence, but he suggested the deal is all but certain to go through: "I can't imagine why we wouldn't [exercise the option]," he said.

"I guess we were first out of the box, which is appropriate because I've been pushing for an end to the cross-ownership ban for so long," said Singleton, who testified against the restriction just three weeks ago before a U.S. Senate committee.

Singleton puts his chain among those that are bullish on newspaper/broadcast combinations, and he said the Fairbanks market meets MediaNews criteria for a television acquisition. "Not all of our markets lend themselves to cross-ownership," he said. "The newspaper footprint needs to come close to mirroring the coverage [area] of broadcast, which it does [in Fairbanks]. And being isolated -- Fairbanks is isolated -- is helpful, too."

The morning News-Miner has a weekday circulation of 16,209. The paper has room to accumulate more broadcast than just KTVF. "Technically, the News-Miner, according to these [FCC] rules, cannot only own us, they can own three other radio stations," KTVF General Manager Bill Wright was quoted as saying by The Associated Press.

Another Gold Rush country paper may also be close to a cross-ownership acquisition. A published report in The Peninsula Clarion in Kenai, Alaska, by Marcus K. Garner said the 5,710-circulation newspaper, owned by Morris Communications Co., is "considering" purchasing KSRM Inc., a Kenai-based broadcaster with several radio stations.