FCC Chief Aims To Loosen Media Ownership
Kevin Martin,
chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), is seeking
to ease the current limits on television and newspaper ownership.
(The current rule bans a company from owning both a newspaper and a
broadcast outlet in the same city.)
This could be
good news for larger corporations like News Corp. and the Tribune,
which are seeking television networks and newspapers in the same
market. Martin has scheduled a Dec. 18 vote on the proposal.
In the
meantime, the FCC will look into loosening the restrictions on the
number of television and radio stations a company could own in the
same city. This is, of course, great news for the large media
corporations.
However,
because members of the Senate’s Commerce Committee are worried about
a “firestorm of protest” in Congress, Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI),
who chairs the committee, has agreed to schedule a hearing on media
ownership before Dec. 18 to discuss concerns.
