FCC chief's plan eases media-ownership ban

— -- The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday proposed easing a 32-year-old ban on a single company owning a newspaper and TV or radio station in the same market but said he doesn't want to relax other media ownership constraints.

The long-awaited plan, which Kevin Martin called "modest," would chiefly affect only the 20 largest markets and smaller TV stations in those markets. It represents a sharp scaleback from a sweeping relaxation of media ownership rules proposed four years ago by former chairman Michael Powell. That proposal was later modified by Congress and struck down by a federal appeals court.

Martin says his plan would bolster newspapers, which are struggling under sharp declines in circulation and advertising revenue. Mergers would permit TV stations and newspapers to share news-gathering resources. Martin also says the cross-ownership ban is outmoded in an age when many people get their news from the Internet and cable TV.

"It's a significantly different media landscape for newspapers," Martin told reporters.

Under the plan, a merger that combines a big daily newspaper with a TV or radio station would be allowed in any the USA's 20 largest markets if at least eight independently owned "major media voices" — including TV stations or major newspapers — remain after the deal. Martin said all top 20 markets now meet that standard. Also, cross-ownership deals could not involve any of the top four TV stations in a market.

Opponents of loosening cross-ownership rules have argued such set-ups give a company too much influence over what people see, hear and read.

However, Martin's proposal would permit a case-by-case consideration of newspaper-broadcast mergers that don't meet his criteria if, for example, it would rescue a failing newspaper or increase the amount of local news in a market. By the same token, even a merger in a top-20 market could be rejected if, for instance, opponents argue the newspaper is financially healthy.