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Public interest groups and lawmakers are gearing up to fight against a Rupert Murdoch-owned Newsday.
News Corp.’s Murdoch is seeking to purchase Long Island-based Newsday for $580 million from Tribune Co., but has struck only an informal agreement with the company - so it is still possible that Tribune Co. rivals such as New York Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman could outbid Murdoch, writes the Wall Street Journal.
If News Corp. does succeed in out-bidding rivals, the company will face regulatory hurdles, but political attacks on the deal could be a larger and more long-term problem, according to the article.
The Commerce Committee is hoping to reverse changes to the ban on media cross-ownership that the FCC voted for last December.
The resolution targets the decision from the FCC that would make it permissible for media companies that own daily newspapers in the nation’s top 20 markets to also own either one lower-rated TV station or a radio station.
News Corp. would likely have to receive waivers for its purchase of Newsday, even if the FCC’s new rules are not overturned, according to Reuters.
FCC chair Kevin Martin told reporters Thursday that he believes the new cross-ownership rules would apply in a Newsday deal, “absent court action.” He declined to comment on how the FCC might view the proposed deal.”This can’t happen,” says Josh Silver, executive director of FreePress, a public-interest group that focuses on media and telecommunications issues. “He uses his media properties to advance his own business interests.”
“One should never bet against Rupert Murdoch. He’s been very successful at navigating the regulatory process,” said Media Access Project’s Andrew Jay Schwartzman. Schwartzman successfully challenged the FCC’s last attempt to change rules concerning media-ownership limits.
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