An industry challenge to FCC media ownership rules won’t be heard by...

An industry challenge to FCC media ownership rules won’t be heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Its Wednesday decision granted a request to dismiss Media General v. FCC. Such an appeal “generally” requires a licensing decision, the D.C. Circuit said. “The Commission did not grant or deny a license application in the challenged order, nor did it modify any license.” The 2008 rules were on cross-ownership of a newspaper and radio or TV station in the same market. Spokesmen for the regulator and for Media General had no comment. The company was backed by others after filing the lawsuit, Policy Counsel Corie Wright of Free Press told us. The group sided with the commission in the case. Media General appealed the FCC’s grant of five permanent cross-ownership waivers in the 2008 order, she noted. “This lawsuit was an attempt to get the D.C. Circuit to hear the media ownership case, which the industry thought would be more favorable to their interests."