The FCC should lift its ban on cross-ownership of newspaper...

The FCC should lift its ban on cross-ownership of newspaper and radio assets in the same market, lawyers for Bonneville International and the Scranton Times told FCC officials, an ex parte notice shows (http://xrl.us/bnvo5a). “The Commission has been presented with no factual foundation, or even a serious legal argument, for keeping the newspaper/radio restriction,” the notice said. “Given that current record before the agency, a decision to keep a newspaper/radio rule in any form would” violate the 1996 Telecommunications Act, conflict with proper administrative procedure and “suffer from serious constitutional infirmities,” it said. Separately, officials of the Newspaper Association of America met with FCC officials to push for an end to the same restrictions, an ex parte notice shows (http://xrl.us/bnuqbz).