The FCC should deny Gannett’s planned $1.5 billion...

The FCC should deny Gannett’s planned $1.5 billion acquisition of broadcaster Belo, said a coalition of public interest groups that filed a petition Wednesday asking the commission to block the merger. “Gannett’s acquisition of several of Belo’s television stations -- in cities including Louisville; Phoenix; Portland; Ore.; and St. Louis -- would violate the FCC’s newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rule or the television duopoly rule” said Free Press, one of the groups involved, in a release Wednesday. Other members of the coalition include Common Cause, the Institute for Public Representation and National Hispanic Media Coalition. “The deal would clearly violate the Commission’s cross-ownership bans, with covert consolidation contracts working to combine newsrooms,” said Free Press CEO Craig Aaron in the release. In a conference call on the deal in June, Gannett conceded market overlaps between itself and Belo, but said it would address the problem through shared service agreements. “These covert consolidation arrangements would allow Gannett to control multiple media outlets in the same market, resulting in job losses, less diversity on the airwaves and diminished competition,” Free Press said. Gannett and Belo didn’t comment by our deadline.