Martin Scales Back Media Ownership Deregulation
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin appeared to scale back media ownership deregulation plans in the face of criticism from members of Congress, agency and industry officials said. His plan announced Tuesday would get rid of a 32-year-old FCC ban preventing a company from owning both a newspaper and a broadcast property in a city. But instead of killing the ban entirely, Martin’s plan would end it in the 20 largest U.S. markets. Just under half of Americans live in those markets, according to Nielsen.
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The chairman seemed to want to end the ban entirely, but may have changed tack after intense Hill criticism, said an FCC official. The official pointed to Martin’s vote in 2003 for repealing the rule entirely. That vote was thrown out in 2004 by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, which led to the current review. The new proposal seems to take into account many concerns expressed by lawmakers, an FCC official said. Sens. Byron Dorgan, D- N.D., and Trent Lott, R-Miss., last week introduced a bill to slow the FCC’s media ownership review by requiring Martin to seek three months of public comment on any prospective rules (CD Nov 9 p3). Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., and Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., recently became the bill’s ninth and tenth co-sponsors. Dorgan anticipates adding co-sponsors, his spokesman said.
Martin issued a news release seeking comment on his plan by Dec. 11, in what FCC and industry officials called an unprecedented move. The chairman had wanted commissioners to vote on a public notice, which would have been issued Tuesday and have laid out the ownership proposal for public comment. But other commissioners didn’t sign on, said FCC officials. That left Martin to issue the proposed rules himself. The proposal said it would allow cross ownership where a market had an additional eight “independently owned and operating major media voices (defined to include major newspapers and full-power commercial TV stations).” If approved by commissioners, the proposal would end the commission’s media ownership rulemaking, begun in June 2006, Martin told reporters.
The rules are “a relatively moderate change,” Martin said. “This is significantly more moderate relief than we had tried to provide in 2003. But it’s important we try to recognize in our rules that it is a significantly different media landscape” than in 1975, when the cross-ownership rules took effect. “This does this while still trying to address the concerns that have been raised about additional media concentration in small and mid-sized markets.” Martin said his proposal resembled what he had discussed with lawmakers.
Dorgan and the FCC Democrats weren’t mollified. Martin has “yet to make the case for why any further media consolidation is necessary,” Dorgan said. “Indeed, he is relying on an assumption that newspapers are doomed and that cross-ownership is necessary to save them. I believe this is not the case.” Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps, in joint comments, called the plan “a wolf in sheep’s clothing” and said the new, “very loose” standards would allow for waivers in other cities. Martin’s plan also was panned by the Newspaper Association of America, which wanted the ban lifted, and by groups opposing media consolidation.