FCC Won't Deny Nexstar-Mission Fort Smith, Ark., Sale

FCC WON'T DENY NEXSTAR-MISSION FORT SMITH, ARK, SALE
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Federal Communications Commission's Media Bureau declined to block the sale of KFTA-TV Fort Smith, Ark., from Nexstar Broadcasting Group to Mission Broadcasting, or to hold up the license renewal of KFTA or Nexstar's KNWA-TV in nearby Rogers, Ark. But the commission did admonish Nexstar for making false claims on its application to sell the station, and it will not allow the two stations to air each other's digital-TV signals. A low-power-station owner in the area, Ft. Smith 46, had asked the commission to deny the sale and to deny the renewal of the licenses, saying that the planned joint-sales agreement and shared-services agreement between Nexstar and Mission "went far beyond" the norm and effectively represented Nexstar's continuing de facto control of KFTA, which, it argued, violated FCC local-market-ownership limits. Those limits would not permit actual duopolies (one company owning two stations) in a market as small as Fort Smith.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6537502.html?rssid=193