I was pretty indifferent to the outcome of the FCC's vote on relaxing the cross-ownership ban but I felt strongly that the vote take place on schedule. The inaction that I have witnessed for years has been remarkable. The fact that the FCC voted to repeal the ban on cross ownership in markets meeting certain criteria back in 2003 after many reviews (but was then pushed back by a Federal appeals court) seems to have been lost in the current brawl over whether the vote should proceed or not. I admire that Kevin Martin pushed the vote forward despite the mounting pressure to postpone it. I doubt this is the last we will hear about cross ownership but at least Mr. Martin is taking a stand.
In fact, the proposed changes were so diluted relative to an outright repeal of the ban on cross ownership that it was hard for me to imagine that anyone thought it would materially or even modestly change the landscape. The top 20 markets have an abundance of traditional media outlets as well as a plethora of online voices. Combining a newspaper with a TV station that isn't in the top four could eventually have an impact as the cross promotion between the two outlets could move the station upward in the ratings; however, in prior reviews and related studies, it was well documented that TV stations owned by newspapers do a better job of covering local news. Not surprisingly, most media companies feel the rule change didn't go far enough.
Further, it might have escaped many senators' attention but the newspaper and broadcast industries aren't faring so well right now; it isn't clear that there is any pent-up M&A activity that will be unleashed by the change in cross ownership. There is modest economic upside when combining a newspaper and a television station that occurs mostly on the cost side, as there is some overlap of news gathering costs, e.g. wire services, etc. There are some creative moves that could be made on the ad side but there is likely not much of a revenue pick-up from the combination.
I doubt the rule change will measurably impact the media landscape. Allowing News Corp and Dow Jones to combine will have a much greater impact than allowing a top-20 market newspaper and TV station to combine. Hyper-local web sites and print papers are popping up all over and finding engaged citizens to participate. Newspapers are hardly dominant in their respective markets to the extent they once were; many are struggling to survive financially given the competition for online classifieds, their historic bread and butter. While the intent of the cross ownership ban is to maintain diversity of voice and avoid the consequences of concentration, locally or nationally, the bigger concern should be survival of newspapers. Permitting cross ownership is unlikely to save the industry but there is chance it could help.