FCC to Examine Cable Attribution; Action Seen Before Cap Rules

Changing media ownership rules is becoming a chess match at the FCC. The Commission likely will review cable ownership attribution rules, and act on them before setting national ownership limits. Separating the two items would help align broadcast TV and cable system rules on the thresholds for media properties to be considered owned by a media firm for antitrust purposes. National cable ownership limits have been an open question at the FCC for four years. “We've been waiting 4 years, and because it’s to the benefit to the cable industry that no rules be in place, this has been given extremely low priority,” said Andrew Schwartzman, of the Media Access Project (MAP). “The delay in acting on this is outrageous, and it’s all the more outrageous that the only piece the cable industry would like to have resolved, attribution, gets bumped ahead of the caps.” MAP may “have to seek assistance from a higher authority if they drag their feet indefinitely,” Schwartzman said, declining to be more specific. His group and the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors want a 20%-30% national cable ownership cap. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is expected by analysts to address newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rules, which could let one firm own a newspaper and TV station in the same market, before
tackling controversial national limits. A push for broad media deregulation by Chairman Martin’s predecessor, Michael Powell, failed when the public protested, Congress intervened and courts rejected some regulations.
[SOURCE: Communications Daily, AUTHOR: Jonathan Make]
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