Another challenge to the FCC

As the year comes to a close, it's gratifying to hear another example of how the FCC is no longer able to automatically smooth the path for its corporate friends without stirring up some serious opposition. The latest example of a corporate media owner actually feeling serious resistance by citizens' groups concerns Media General, an owner of 27 newspapers and 26 television stations across the U.S.. Now Media General is in the strange position of owning both a broadcast outlet and a local newspaper in multiple cities, including Panama City, Fla., and Florence, SC. But wait! you exclaim. That's not allowed! Well it is if you get a waiver from your friendly FCC that bypasses long-standing cross-ownership rules. As Broadcasting & Cable explains, "FCC rules have allowed Media General to operate the combos despite the ban on local crossownership. Because acquisitions of newspapers don’t typically need approval of any regulator, a TV owner may buy a paper in one of its markets and operate it until the local station’s license is up for renewal." But now it's license renewal time in Panama City and Florence, and of course Media General thinks it would be very nice to renew its license waiver (which would give them another eight years of cross-ownership). So, no problem, right? After all, Michael Powell's FCC doesn't seem to mind bending the rules for Big Media owners, right? Well actually there is a problem -- thanks to the Media Access Project (MAP). This group (along with with Common Cause and Free Press) is challenging Media General 's license (and waiver) renewal. This will be a tough fight for MAP in this deregulatory environment, but if the group succeeds, Media General will have to divest itself of the newspaper if it wants to renew its broadcast license. This will be interesting to watch. Every TV station in the country has to renew its license within the next three years, and more and more corporate owners are applying for waivers. It would be a really good idea to nip this sort of thing in the bud. Cross-ownership rules are there for a reason (I'll come back to this later), and it's about time the FCC were reminded of this.