FCC chief avoids missteps of predecessor

FCC CHIEF AVOIDS MISSTEPS OF PREDECESSOR
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times 4/8, AUTHOR: Jim Puzzanghera jim.puzzanghera@latimes.com]
The FCC is in the midst of a periodic review of its media ownership rules, as required by Congress. The agency will spend the rest of 2007 studying whether to relax restrictions on the number of radio and TV stations that a company can own in one market, as well as rules that prevent ownership of a newspaper and a station in the same city. But this review could be much different from the last one, held four years ago. The largest station owners are not as insistent this time around on easing the rules because the broadcasting business has lost some luster since 2003 as advertisers and viewers have become enamored of the Internet. Major station owners such as News Corp., Walt Disney Co. and CBS Corp. are more interested in reducing their broadcast holdings and expanding their presence online. "It does not appear to me that the passion of the opponents has diminished in any way, but the passions of the proponents have diminished significantly," said Blair Levin, a telecommunications analyst at brokerage Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. One exception: Tribune Co., which owns newspapers and TV stations in five markets, including Los Angeles, where it owns The Times and KTLA Channel 5. The company's prospective new owner, Sam Zell, would need waivers in those markets to comply with the rules. Another factor is that FCC Chairman Kevin Martin appears intent on avoiding the mistakes made by his predecessor. Former Chairman Michael Powell, a fellow Republican, was widely criticized for holding just one public hearing, and suffered a humiliating blow to his credibility when Congress reversed part of the FCC's decision to overhaul the ownership rules. As a commissioner in 2003, Martin voted to liberalize the rules. That's one reason opponents worry that his open approach might be simply an attempt to smooth the path for what the media industry wants.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-fcc8apr08,1,3101936.story?coll=la-...
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