A small daily newspaper publisher warned the FCC against easing cross-ownership...

A small daily newspaper publisher warned the FCC against easing cross-ownership rules against one company owning a daily and a radio or TV station in the same market. Journal Publishing, which has said Tribune abuses its cross-ownership waiver in Connecticut (CD Oct 4 p19), pointed to that company in asking the agency not to expand the waiver for others to use. “This situation that has developed in Connecticut may provide a good example of what will happen nationally if the rule against cross-ownership is repealed -- less competition, less employment, less journalism, and more concentration of power,” the owner of the Journal Inquirer said in docket 09-182 (http://xrl.us/bmrxuw). “Banning cross-ownership in markets outside the top 20 ranking would be better than no ban at all, but after 12 years of waivers of the cross-ownership rule for one particular company in Connecticut, we ask the commission to prohibit further extension of waivers in this situation.” A Media Bureau rulemaking notice asks about allowing cross ownership in the top-20 U.S. markets when certain showings are made by a waiver seeker. Lawyers representing a creditor of Tribune, owner of the Hartford Courant and WTIC Hartford, separately met with bureau officials about the company’s plan to exit bankruptcy and transfer some FCC licenses. JPMorgan Chase proposes to use a subsidiary to hold “the bulk” of the bank’s stake in the reorganized company, so its executives will be “wholly unrelated to Tribune,” said a filing last week in docket 10-104 (http://xrl.us/bmrxu8). “This change in the manner in which JPMorgan intends to hold its interests in Tribune post-emergence will be described in the amendment to the pending FCC applications in this proceeding that the parties intend to file in the near future,” said the ex parte document reporting on a meeting where JPMorgan was represented by former FCC Chairman Richard Wiley and other lawyers with Wiley Rein. “Although JPMorgan had previously reported to the Commission that it held a non-attributable ownership interest of more than 5 percent of the voting stock of Gannett,” the filing said that stake is now below that threshold, at which investments can become attributable under FCC rules.