FCC’s Copps Calls for News Corp.-Wall Street Journal Inquiry

FCC'S COPPS CALLS FOR NEWS CORP-WALL STREET JOURNAL INQUIRY
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Federal Communications Commission's Michael Copps asked FCC Chairman Kevin Martin to open an inquiry into News Corp.'s purchase of The Wall Street Journal. Commissioner Copps said he is concerned that the $5.6 billion combination, which is not currently before the FCC for consideration, would result in control of a network and two of the nation's five largest newspapers by a single company and would result in the ownership of two newspapers and two TV stations in New York, the nation's top market. Saying this was unprecedented in the history of the FCC, Commissioner Copps proposed opening a proceeding to determine "whether approval of this transaction accords without public-interest responsibilities" and, taking the opportunity to make a subtle pitch for regulation, posed the question of whether "our existing media-ownership rules and precedents are adequate to deal with this proposed transaction." The FCC is not reviewing the News Corp.-WSJ transaction because as a "national newspaper," the Journal does not run afoul of the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership ban, which applies to local papers and stations in the same market. But Commissioner Copps said that precedent should not preclude the FCC from analyzing the merger in the broader context of its responsibility to consider the public-interest implications for localism, diversity and competition."
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6494541.html?desc=topstory

* FCC member seeks review of Dow Jones deal
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-fcc26oct26,1,6351524.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business

* Copps' letter
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-277576A1.pdf