A quartet of media companies long ago made the common-sense suggestion that broadcast/newspaper pairings held together by the imperfect glue of a temporary waiver be allowed to remain together until there is a final resolution to the seemingly eternal proceeding on cross-ownership. As has become its quarterly habit, the FCC extended the waiver for another quarter instead.
The companies, known to the FCC as the Media Parties, are Cox Enterprises, Inc.; Calvary, Inc.; Bonneville International Corp.; Scranton Times LP; and Morris Communications. At this point in their existence, they seem guaranteed to a minor amount of free publicity when the FCC dusts off this now standard release, changes the dates on it, and sends it out again.
The existing waivers on in-market cross-owned media combinations now extends for another 90 days, and the FCC will take comments on the matter until 1/3/11.
RBR-TVBR observation: Apparently, the suggestion of the media companies to issue a conditional waiver simply makes too much sense to have any chance of making it in Washington. We’d bet that even if pigs fly, the FCC will stick to its quarterly waiver scheme until whatever decade it is when the cross-ownership issue is finally resolved.
