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Newspapers

US set to drop ban on newspaper-radio tie-ups; television next to go?

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By Noel Young, Correspondent

November 19, 2012 | 3 min read

The ban on newspaper-radio combinations in any size of market in the US looks likely to be abandoned by the Federal Communications Commission . If it is, the US will be following in the footsteps of the UK where the restriction on cross ownership between radio and newspapers was dumped some years ago .

Times Picayune has cut back on print

Newspapers can, however can still hold no more than 20 per cent of an ITV station, such as Scottish Television. In the US, newspaper industry people believe that the ban on owning a newspaper and TV station in the top 20 markets is also out of date and hope it will be swept away, too.

The man pushing the relaxation in the US is FCC chairman Julius Genachowski. If his plea on radio is accepted , it will represent a significant step toward complete deregulation.

The cross-ownership ban goes back to the days before cable and the Internet began to change the media landscape, Adweek points out.

Broadcasters and newspapers see the ban as antiquated but public interest groups worry that without it , more media consolidation would follow, with fewer diverse voices.

The ban's days were numbered when a supporter, the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, reversed its position. The FCC's own studies suggest that owning a newspaper and radio in a market could be one way of preserving the newspaper business and bringing more local news to radio.

Newspapers in the US have lost 50 percent of their ad revenue since 2006 and are in dire need of outside investment. The 175-year-old New Orleans Times-Picayune recently cut back its print publication to three daysa week.

Caroline Little, CEO of the Newspaper Association of America, said ""It is gratifying to hear that the chairman agrees with us that this 1970s-era ban should be repealed as to radio ownership.

“However, the same logic applies to television. A federal law banning television companies from investing in the newspaper industry just makes no sense in today’s diverse media marketplace."

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