July 18 Deadline for Cross-Ownership Move Requests

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Gives Broadcasters, Media Activists Until July 18 to File Requests for Moving Appeal of FCC Decision

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 6/23/2008 5:16:00 PM

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals gave broadcasters and media activists until July 18 to file their requests for moving the appeal of the Federal Communications Commission's decision to loosen the ban on newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership.

That's according to one of the parties involved.

Appeals were filed in various courts by both broadcasters, which are unhappy that the FCC did not lift the ban entirely, and activists, which said any loosening is too much for an already-overconsolidated industry.

The Ninth Circuit won a lottery -- literally -- to see where the cases would be consolidated. But now the parties can petition the Ninth Circuit to transfer the case back to their respective favorite courts. Broadcasters tend to like the D.C. Circuit, while activists like the Third Circuit in Philadelphia, which remanded the FCC's earlier media-ownership-rule rewrite.

Oppositions to those requests for transfer are due Aug. 14.