The public should get “meaningful notice whenever a broadcaster seeks...
The public should get “meaningful notice whenever a broadcaster seeks waiver of an ownership rule,” four groups opposed to such waivers said. The current methods of required station on-air announcements of such requests and FCC lists of such submissions don’t…
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say “whether a waiver has been requested,” Common Cause, Free Press, National Hispanic Media Coalition and United Church of Christ said. “The Commission should issue a specific public notice” and “distribute information” so “people in the relevant community of license” have a “chance to learn” of the request and comment, representatives of those groups told aides to commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel. “Without meaningful notice, the public has no opportunity to rebut this presumption” in favor of waivers for common ownership of a TV station and daily newspaper in the same market, an ex parte filing posted Friday to docket 09-182 said (http://xrl.us/bn3k47). A draft FCC order has such a provision for top-20 markets (CD Nov 23 p5). TV stations “unable to merge under the FCC’s rules” use shared services deals “to consolidate their core operations, and thereby circumvent local media ownership protections,” the four groups said. “The television duopoly rule has been effectively rendered meaningless and unenforceable."