FCC Chairman Kevin Martin appeared to scale back media ownership deregulation plans in the face of criticism from members of Congress, agency and industry officials said. His plan announced Tuesday would get rid of a 32-year-old FCC ban preventing a company from owning both a newspaper and a broadcast property in a city. But instead of killing the ban entirely, Martin’s plan would end it in the 20 largest U.S. markets. Just under half of Americans live in those markets, according to Nielsen.
Notable CROSS rulings
AT&T, Verizon and the California consumer group TURN asked the Public Utilities Commission to reconsider its October order setting general video franchise and provider reporting requirements. AT&T and Verizon sought rehearing of a PUC requirement that franchise holders report on subscribership by census tract in addition to reporting on availability by census tract. The PUC said subscribership reporting is critical to its ability to enforce nondiscrimination and buildout requirements, but the telcos said the legislature explicitly rejected detailed subscriber reporting during debate on the franchise law, and the PUC can’t legally impose a reporting requirement the legislature refused to require. They also said the PUC can’t use its utility regulation powers to impose subscriber reporting because video service providers under the law aren’t public utilities or common carriers. TURN said the administrative rules for processing video franchise applications don’t provide opportunity for objections to an application. TURN said that the video law didn’t require the PUC to provide opportunity for challenges, but it didn’t bar providing such opportunities. TURN also said the video reporting requirements don’t include data that would enable regulators and other parties to detect cross subsidies between a provider’s telephone and video services. TURN said the PUC incorrectly assumed that its freeze on basic phone rates for the large telcos makes video cross-subsidies unfeasible.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin’s plan to wrap up a media ownership review hit another speed bump Thursday with the introduction of a bill sponsored by eight senators to prolong an inquiry approaching a year and a half old. One of the sponsors, Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said at a Senate Commerce Committee ownership hearing that his bill would require the FCC to seek additional public comment before issuing new rules. Martin caught flak at the hearing from senators of both parties for what they consider his rush to finish the comprehensive ownership-limit rewrite. They joined other members of both chambers in criticizing Martin (CD Sept 25 p1).
Most Americans don’t want the FCC to end its cross- ownership ban preventing one company from owning a newspaper and a broadcast property in the same market, said a survey paid for by groups opposing media consolidation. The Media and Democracy Coalition of Consumers Union, United Church of Christ and more than a dozen other groups said the survey of over 1,000 adults found that 57 percent back cross-ownership laws. More than half of both Democratic and Republican respondents backed the current rules, which FCC Chairman Kevin Martin wants other commissioners to reconsider (CD Nov 1 p7). “Big corporations” buying “many of the newspapers, radio stations and television stations in this country” is troubling, 42 percent said. Another 28 percent called it a “minor problem.” Asked what sources they use at least once a week for local news, 51 percent said they use the Internet, 62 percent said they listen to radio and 83 percent said they watch TV news. The poll was conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner.
With several proceedings at the FCC touching on media ownership including the proposed XM-Sirius merger and Tribune’s buyout, the commission has to consider all the moving parts together, Chairman Kevin Martin told reporters after the commission’s localism hearing Wednesday. “We're going to have to address them in a consistent fashion, not just on a case by case basis,” he said.
Exclusive service contracts between cable operators and multiple dwelling unit owners will be outlawed by an order adopted Wednesday by the FCC. The ban, on current exclusivity clauses as well as future ones, applies to most wire-based pay-TV services. The commission opened a new rulemaking that would extend the ban to DBS and private cable operators. About 30 percent of Americans live in apartment buildings or other MDUs, the commission said. Wednesday’s action will make sure those consumers can choose which pay-TV provider to do business with and help keep cable prices down by removing hurdles for phone companies that want to sell video services, Chairman Kevin Martin said. “Trying to remove any barriers to those cable overbuilders is really critical,” he said. The FCC also adopted a cable franchise order originally slated for the commission’s Sept. 11 meeting.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin drew more fire from within and outside the agency on his handling of reviews of media rules (CD Oct 25 p1). At particular issue was his decision to give less than a week of public notice on a localism hearing. Late Wednesday, the FCC said its monthly meeting will occur Oct. 31 along with a second and final hearing on how well broadcasters serve their communities. The localism hearing is separate from comprehensive agency review of media ownership rules, slammed Wednesday by senators of both parties. But Martin has pledged to wrap up the FCC’s localism hearing before finishing the media ownership review.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin should open a proceeding on News Corp.’s proposed takeover of Dow Jones, Commissioner Michael Copps wrote in a letter to Martin. Not only will the deal put News Corp. in control of one of the biggest broadcast networks and two of five largest U.S. newspapers, it also will put a single company in control of two top New York TV stations and two of that city’s most popular newspapers, he wrote. “Both aspects of this transaction are unprecedented in the history of the FCC,” he said. Copps first advocated for an FCC review of the deal, which does not involve transfer of any FCC licenses, this summer (CD Aug 2 p15). Previous commission actions exempting national newspapers from its cross-ownership rules lacked thorough economic analysis and are a poor basis for precedent in this case, he said. “These antiquated orders are no foundation on which to build media policy for the 21st Century,” he said.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin faces challenges in garnering approval from other commissioners for his plan to end a year-plus comprehensive media ownership rule review on Dec. 18 (CD Oct 18 p4), we're told. The chairman’s office circulated a public notice several weeks ago for a commissioner vote, listing steps to be taken before a final order is approved, said three agency sources. They said commissioners aren’t voting on the order because they want to see whether the chairman and the agency’s two Democrats can compromise on the timeline. Republican Commissioners Robert McDowell and Deborah Tate don’t necessarily oppose Martin’s proposal, but the FCC sources said it’s difficult for them to vote before they know more about the progress of talks between Martin and Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps.
Media General continued to push the FCC to kill cross- ownership rules keeping a company from owning a broadcaster and a daily newspaper in a market. General Counsel George Mahoney met Oct. 5 with Commissioner Deborah Tate and Oct. 2 with Commissioner Robert McDowell to discuss “the extensive evidence in the record that supports repeal” of the rule, said ex parte filings with the FCC. He also discussed “avenues for resolving issues that have been raised” in the FCC’s media-ownership review. In a Tuesday follow-up meeting with a Tate aide, Mahoney discussed the cross-ownership rule’s history.