In a move that cuts to the heart of the current debate on media ownership, the United Church of Christ has formally challenged the license renewals of two television stations in Hartford, Conn, owned by the Tribune media conglomerate.
Tribune is the poster child when it comes to domination of local media markets by a single company – and nowhere is that more on clear display than in Hartford.
In Hartford, Tribune owns Fox network affiliate WTIC and CW network affiliate WTXX, along with the Hartford Courant, the state’s dominant newspaper. It also owns a chain of weekly newspapers located throughout the state; daily newspapers in Stamford and Greenwich; and a web site called ctnow.com.
Federal Communications Commission rules bans media companies from owning television stations and newspapers in the same market. But like it does in other cities where it owns multiple media holdings, Tribune has gotten a series of waivers from the FCC’s newspaper/broadcast cross ownership rules for its Hartford stations.
The church pointed out some very good reasons why the FCC should deny Tribune’s request for permanent waivers for its Hartford stations.
“Permitting common ownership of the three media outlets does not serve the purpose of the NBCO rule of promoting a diversity of local news sources,” UCC wrote in a filing with the FCC. "Indeed, the very fact that Tribune utilizes the resources of the Courant to produce its news programming for WTIC-TV and then simulcasts the same news program on WTXX illustrates how Tribune’s cross-ownership diminishes the diversity of sources of local news in Hartford.”
The church said Tribune should not be granted another temporary waiver either because it has been given more than sufficient time to sell either the newspaper or one of the television stations. Tribune has owned the three properties for seven years.
In the end, we suspect the FCC will grant Tribune yet another temporary waiver for its Hartford stations. The agency has a track record of granting such waivers on a routine basis in recent years.
No matter what happens, we commend the church for at least raising the issue.
