FCC Grants Applications for Transfer of Control of Tribune Company

FCC GRANTS APPLICATIONS FOR TRANSFER OF CONTROL OF TRIBUNE COMPANY
[SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission]
The Federal Communications Commission authorized the transfer of control of Tribune Company from the existing shareholders to Sam Zell, The Tribune Employee Stock Ownership Plan, and EGI-TRB, LLC. Tribune requested indefinite waivers of the existing newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership (NBCO) rule in several markets. Although the Commission's Order denies this request, it grants time-limited waivers for these markets under certain circumstances. In granting time-limited waivers, the Commission concludes that it is not appropriate to require divestiture while litigation is ongoing. Specifically, the Commission notes that it is currently considering a proposal to alter the NBCO rule and that the rule has been the subject of extensive litigation. In addition, the Commission notes that Tribune may challenge the denial of Tribune's request for indefinite waivers in court. Thus, while litigation could be ongoing, the Order grants Tribune waivers for two years, or for 6 months after the end of litigation, whichever is longer. The Order grants a permanent waiver of the NBCO rule in the Chicago market. In that market, the combination of the Chicago Tribune, WGN(AM), and WGN-TV dates back decades, long before the existence of the NBCO rule, and was grandfathered when the rule was originally adopted. In light of the large and diverse nature of the market and the uniquely long-term symbiotic relationship between the broadcast stations and the newspaper, the Order concludes that a permanent waiver of the rule is warranted. Finally, if a new NBCO rule is adopted before January 1, 2008, the Order grants Tribune two years to come into compliance with the new rule in the New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and Hartford markets.
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-278619A1.doc
FCC Order: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-07-211A1.doc

* Tribune Waivers Get FCC Go-Ahead
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6508738.html?rssid=193

* Tribune Deal Now A Lock -- As FCC Grants License Waivers Friday
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_con...

* FCC Grants Waivers To Aid Tribune Deal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119664634931211287.html?mod=todays_us_ma...

* Tribune deal gets go-ahead from FCC
Technically, the FCC denied Tribune's request for indefinite waivers of rules against newspaper and broadcast combinations. For Tribune, that affects five markets. But the FCC granted a permanent exemption in Chicago and effectively gave the company at least a two-year pass in New York, Los Angeles, South Florida and Hartford, Conn. If Tribune challenges the denial of its request in court, the FCC order said, the company will get waivers of the cross-ownership rules for at least two years and as long as six months beyond the end of litigation. And if new cross-ownership rules are adopted before Jan. 1, the FCC's action Friday gives Tribune two years to comply.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-sat_fcc1201dec01,0,6966257.st...
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-tribune1dec01,1,38901...

* Commissioner Copps: "If this Order were a newspaper, the banner headline would read 'FCC Majority Uses Legal Subterfuge to Push for Total Elimination of Cross-Ownership Ban'.... To argue now that the passage of time argues for a permanent waiver is a brazen reversal of thirty years of settled precedent."
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-07-211A2.doc

* Commissioner Adelstein: "Faced with any merger, it is our obligation to analyze the record evidence and determine whether the public will be served better by the transaction being approved or being denied, and what conditions, if any, may be necessary to mitigate harms to consumers. The box being checked off by the majority for Today's order reads "None of the above." Instead, today's order is a regulatory hostage taking -- a desperate maneuver to use the Tribune transaction as a human shield, while the Commission marches down the treacherous path toward greater media consolidation. Notwithstanding congressional rebuke and widespread public opposition, this Commission is determined to use any conceivable ploy to achieve its misguided goals."
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-07-211A3.doc

* Commissioner Tate: "This is a good day for the 20,000 employees whose jobs depend on the outcome of this transaction, and for the Chicago Tribune newspaper, a Chicago landmark since 1924."
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-07-211A4.doc

* Commissioner McDowell: "Approving this transaction allows the new owners to breathe new life into Tribune's newspapers and broadcast properties. Tribune's readers, viewers and listeners will benefit from its strengthened and more efficient news-gathering operations. Allowing for continued cross-ownership of the company's newspapers and broadcast stations furthers the Commission's statutory duty to promote competition, diversity and localism by invigorating a voice that might otherwise fade. Our Order today also allows Tribune to compete against a growing chorus of new media voices in the information, opinion and entertainment market place that do not live, and would not have developed, under a multi-platform cross-ownership ban."
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-07-211A5.doc

* Media Access Project: "Tribune was given more than it requested in a decision which is deceptively packaged to make it seem more reasonable than it really is."
http://www.mediaaccess.org/

* Benton Foundation: "The season of giving began early this year when FCC Chairman Kevin Martin gave a gift worth hundreds of millions of dollars to billionaire Sam Zell and the Tribune Co. For the public, however, the decision is the equivalent of three lumps of coal."
http://www.benton.org/node/8266