crossownership

With FCC chief Tom Wheeler proposing to continue the decades-old ban on TV-newspaper common ownership, one has to ask in the light of modern media makeup, Why? Does he want to drive the final nail in the print media’s coffin? Ban supporters say its removal would lead to less news in local markets.That’s 1975 thinking and, even if it were true then, it’s not true now.

The trade group objects to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s proposal to keep the 41-year-old ban, saying It is now “outdated, and the very notion of a rule hinging on a newspaper being printed and circulated shows its age and inherent arbitrariness.”

The Fredericksburg, Va., Free Lance–Star’s new owner has 12 months to sell its four radio stations, according to a recent FCC ruling. Sandton Capital Partners had petitioned the FCC to receive the licenses for WFLS–FM and its sister stations, and a waiver of its newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership restriction.The FCC assigned the licenses to Sandton, but it denied the waiver request and does not anticipate granting extensions, according to its ruling.