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Kevin Martin FCC chair Kevin Martin said he plans to go ahead with the vote on the relaxation of media ownership rules today. However, he said yesterday (Monday) that he will make changes to the proposed rules, before the vote.
The changes would make newspaper broadcast mergers in smaller markets more difficult than what he originally proposed, writes USA Today.
The proposed rules would relax the standard that bars a company from owning a newspaper and broadcast station in the same city, making such ownership permissible in the 20 top markets, as long as none of the top four TV stations were involved.
The proposed rules would also allow a merger in a smaller market - or one involving the larger TV stations - if the deal increased local TV coverage or if the newspaper was in financial distress.
Martin’s nod to critics of the proposal - including consumer advocates and FCC Democrats - was to toughen waiver criteria, saying that for a newspaper to be considered for a waiver of the rules, it must have lost money for three years running.
While Gene Kimmelman of Consumers Union said such limiting of mergers in smaller markets would be “a significant improvement,” the concession is not likely to smooth the ruffled feathers of lawmakers. If Martin moves forward with the vote, a letter signed by 25 senators sent Monday said that “we will immediately move legislation that will revoke and nullify the proposed rule.”
In the meantime, three advertising trade associations - the AmericanAssociation of Advertising Agencies, the American Advertising Federation and the Association of National Advertisers - have sent a letter to the FCC urging it to reconsider issuing a notice of proposed rule-making on product placement, reports AdAge.
“… we believe that the commission’s consideration of these issues would benefit from having a fact-gathering proceeding first to determine whether problems exist before fashioning a regulatory solution,” the groups said.
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Wal-Mart and Costco reported same-store gains in September, with sales rising 2.4% and 9% respectively. Sales at Target stores open at least a year fell 3%, writes Retailer Daily.
Below, fiscal results from the discount retail giants:
Sales of food and…
