Sinclair’s top lawyer visited the FCC to ask it not attribute...

Sinclair’s top lawyer visited the FCC to ask it not attribute ownership of separately owned stations in the same market that are in TV joint sales agreements, as foes of consolidation opposed the same draft ownership rules on other grounds, filings in docket 09-182 say. The “stale” record from a 2004 rulemaking notice proposing to attribute such agreements shouldn’t be relied on in the forthcoming order ending the quadrennial ownership review due to Congress in 2010 (CD Nov 29 p5), Sinclair General Counsel Barry Farber told commissioners Ajit Pai and Jessica Rosenworcel and aides to Chairman Julius Genachowski and Commissioner Robert McDowell. “The FCC should open the proceeding for further comment in order to refresh” the record, the company said (http://xrl.us/bn5b9y). Four groups saying they're the largest U.S. civil rights organizations clarified they don’t back allowing newspaper/broadcaster cross-ownership. “We do not object to a relaxation of the NBCO if such a relaxation would not diminish minority ownership,” the Asian American Justice Center, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, National Council of La Raza and National Urban League wrote (http://xrl.us/bn5cac). The 30-day comment period through Jan. 4 on female and minority radio and TV station ownership figures isn’t “sufficient to analyze whether any relaxation of the NBCO will diminish minority ownership,” the four groups said. “The burden of proof is on the Commission to produce analysis for further public comment that any proposed changes to the NBCO or anything else in the 2010 Quadrennial Review will not diminish minority ownership.” There’s a “growing chorus of popular and political opposition to the course of action charted and the rule changes” in the draft order, Free Press reported (http://xrl.us/bn5cag) telling an aide to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn. The order is expected to be voted on next year (CD Dec 5 p2).