|
U.S. PIRG Consumer Blog
« Big banks: Too big to fail? What about too big to care? |
Main
| Great new parody site: Predatory Lending Association »
November 13, 2007
FCC's Martin tees up ownership proposal
In an op-ed column The Daily Show in today's New York Times, FCC chair Kevin Martin makes his pitch for busting the long-standing newspaper-television cross-ownership ban, but only in large markets: A company that owns a newspaper in one of the 20 largest cities in the country should be permitted to purchase a broadcast TV or radio station in the same market. But a newspaper should be prohibited from buying one of the top four TV stations in its community. In addition, each part of the combined entity would need to maintain its editorial independence. Martin says he will not propose to change any of the other ownership rules, and that the purpose of this proposal is to save local newspapers. Allowing cross-ownership may help to forestall the erosion in local news coverage by enabling companies that own both newspapers and broadcast stations to share some costs. We've opposed changing any of the rules, especially this one. We'll have more after we see the full proposal.
Posted by Ed Mierzwinski at November 13, 2007 06:41 AM
Post a comment
|
