The FCC's Media Bureau has given media companies more time to file amendments to current waiver requests or renewal applications or new requests for permanent waivers of its newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rules.
In a notice released Thursday, the bureau said it would give Cox Enterprises; Calvary, Inc.; Bonneville International Corp.; Scranton Times LP; and Morris Communications 90 days after the Supreme Court denies broadcasters appeal of the FCC's media ownership rule changes to seek changes or waivers or, if the court agrees to grant the appeal request, 90 days after a final decision.
A sense of how long broadcasters have been unsure about their ownership status vis-à-vis cross-ownership and multiple ownership issues is evident in the dockets the notice is responsive to, which includes the decade-old 2002 biennial regulatory review.
The FCC has separately proposed new ownership rules that include loosening newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership restrictions, lifting the radio-TV cross-ownership ban, but leaving local market caps in place.
