BIA Chief Calls For Change in Cross Ownership Rules

Media consultancy BIA Advisory Services made a call today for a change in cross ownership rules to help stations weather the bleak economy. In a statement predicting TV station group revenue will decline by 17% in 2009, company CEO Tom Buono said: "With local media companies dying on the vine and the TV industry, in particular, hamstrung in many large and small markets, it seems like a good time to explore the steps to save local media outlets, including the elimination of media cross-ownership and local ownership rules."

[Buono went on with a complicated analysis of how increased debt helps struggling companies.]