There are media rules that restrict a company’s owning both a newspaper and television or radio station in the same city. Those rules have been in put place for a reason but they are about to be ‘bent’ by the FCC chairman, Kevin J. Martin, to allow Samuel Zell to close the buyout of the Tribune Company by the end of December.

“Coming off a setback at the hands of the cable television industry, the head of the Federal Communications Commission moved to reassert himself on Wednesday by proposing that the commission quickly adopt a rule that would prevent Comcast, the nation’s biggest cable company, from becoming larger, commission officials said.”

“The crux of the plan involves granting Tribune a temporary waiver from media rules that restrict a company’s owning both a newspaper and television or radio station in the same city.”
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