WASHINGTON — Defying powerful members of Congress, the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday voted 3-2 to permit cross- ownership of broadcast outlets and newspapers in the same city.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin was joined by his two Republican colleagues in favor of the proposal, while the commission’s two Democrats voted against it.
Martin pushed the vote through despite intense pressure from House and Senate members on Capitol Hill to delay it. The chairman, however, has the support of the White House, which has pledged to turn back any congressional action that seeks to undo the vote.
Under the rule change, one entity would be permitted to own a newspaper and one broadcast station in the same market. But it must be among the 20 largest media markets in the nation (Denver is No. 18), and following the transaction, at least eight independently owned and operated media voices must remain. In addition, the television station may not be among the top four in the market. (Denver’s top four TV stations based on audience size are KUSA-Channel 9, KMGH- Channel 7, KCNC-Channel 4 and KDVR-Channel 31.)
The FCC approved the continuation of 42 newspaper- broadcast combinations that already exist through waivers or exceptions, Martin said. Companies that benefited include Gannett Co., the biggest U.S. newspaper publisher, and Media General Inc., said Andrew Schwartzman, president of the Washington-based Media Access Project.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the chairman described the media- ownership proceeding as “the most contentious and divisive issue” to come before the FCC.
That proved true as the two Democrats, Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, blasted Martin for making changes to his proposal “in the dead of night” and just prior to the meeting that they said created new loopholes.
“The real winners today are businesses that are in many cases quite healthy,” said Adelstein, “and the real losers are going to be all of us who depend on the news media to learn what’s happening in our communities.”
There is not likely to be any immediate impact in the Denver market. William Dean Singleton, publisher of The Denver Post and chief executive of Denver-based MediaNews, in the past has expressed interest in acquiring broadcast properties. However, Tuesday he said the explosion of traffic on the Internet in recent years has changed the media environment.
“We have no current plans to add any broadcast anywhere,” Singleton said. “We will wait and see what becomes available. The urgency of cross- ownership changes has somewhat been diluted by the changing media environment.”
He called the rule “unfair in any form.”
“Freedom of speech should dictate that newspapers should be able to own anything they want and broadcasters should be able to own anything they want,” he said.
The vote, he said, was “a very good step in the right direction.”
Jim Zerwekh, general manager of Tribune-owned KWGN- Channel 2 in Denver, a CW affiliate, said the ruling is good news “not only for Tribune but any company like Belo or Gannett” that owns newspapers and TV stations.
“It’s an archaic rule that really doesn’t apply anymore,” he said.
With two newspapers, Denver is a good news town, Zerwekh said, and “time will tell if there’s acquisitions. I don’t want to speculate but, yes, we would qualify.”
Executives at KTVD-Channel 20, which also might be able to combine with a newspaper under the new rules, did not respond to requests for comment. John Temple, president, publisher and editor of the Rocky Mountain News, also did not respond to a request for comment about whether his company would be interested in acquiring a local TV station.
The cross-ownership ban was approved by the FCC in 1975 to serve “the twin goals of diversity of viewpoints and economic competition.” Opponents of the ban say in the past decade there has been an explosion of news outlets thanks to cable television and the Internet and that the restrictions are no longer needed. Ban supporters say there may be additional outlets, but there has been no corresponding increase in news gatherers and producers, especially at the local level.
On Monday, 25 senators, including four Republicans, sent Martin a letter threatening that if he went ahead with the vote, they would move legislation to revoke the rule and nullify the commission’s action. But a Dec. 4 letter that surfaced later the same day — from Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid — made it clear that the chairman has the full support of the White House.
The agency first tried to loosen the ban in 2003, but the move was rejected by a federal appeals court.
Denver Post television critic Joanne Ostrow contributed to this report.
