Copps Rips Tribune Suit Over Cross-ownership Waivers

Michael Copps

TRIBUNE's lawsuit to overturn the temporary status of its cross-ownership waivers has FCC Commissioner MICHAEL COPPS saying, "I told you so," noting that he had predicted the "clever legal maneuvering" of a run to the courthouse in his dissent to the FCC's 3-2 approval of TRIBUNE's sale to SAM ZELL.   

The commission technically denied TRIBUNE's request for waivers, enabling the company to sue, but issued temporary waivers to TRIBUNE pending a court decision.

On THURSDAY, COPPS said, "This carefully scripted production is hardly surprising but still distressing to watch. The FCC majority did everything it could to ensure that TRIBUNE would challenge the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership ban in court, even waiving certain procedural hurdles so the appeal could be filed immediately. TRIBUNE apparently now has done their part. The next step will be for the majority to mount a lukewarm defense of the rule in court and hope that the entire rule gets thrown out. In the final act, the majority will say they tried to do something more moderate, but the court simply wouldn't allow it. And the curtain will fall to thunderous applause from beltway insiders who appreciate a clever script that only they can follow."

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