MMTC: Diversity Doesn't Justify Retaining Cross-Ownership Rule

The Minority Media & Telecommunications Council told the Federal Communications Commission that the FCC should use MMTC’s diversity study as one piece of evidence — though not a dispositive one — that rules banning newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership, or other forms of cross-ownership, are not "sufficiently material" to justify tightening or retaining them.

The study did identify one market in which the three respondents said cross-media interests had a competitive impact, so the MMTC’s July 23 filing provided a caveat about "singleton" stations, which are more likely to be minority- or women-owned than other stations. "We recommend that the commission be alert to the possibility that a cross-media combination, with strong newspaper, television and radio outlets in a medium (or small) market, can have sufficient market power to operate as a material detriment to minority and women ownership," the advocacy group said.