FCC expected to waive rule for Tribune

Posted by Evan Fell on November 30, 2007 at 12:54 PM

The FCC is anticipated to approve Tribune’s $8.2 billion deal to go private by today. The rule barring ownership of a newspaper and a broadcast property in one market needs to be waived in order for Tribune to complete the Sam Zell privatization.

Kevin Martin, FCC Chairman, removed the remaining regulatory obstacles to the deal on Wednesday, proposing to exempt Tribune from the ownership prohibition rule for two years.

If approved by today, Tribune should still have enough time to file the papers for the government that are necessary to go private, saying that the finances are all in place.

After the proposed waivers are approved, Martin will likely continue to push his plan to ease the cross ownership ban in the nation’s top 20 markets, a plan which still is not settling well with public interest groups, who plan to sue to block the changes if they are made.

Tribune is also busy planning to launch branded channels on YouTube for its newspapers and TV stations.

Source:Los Angeles Times through Media Bistro

Posted in :