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Tribune plan is in right direction: FCC's McDowell

WASHINGTON
Wed Nov 28, 2007 6:56pm EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top U.S. Federal Communications Commission official said on Wednesday a proposal to give Tribune Co TRB.N a two-year extension of waivers that let it own television stations and newspapers in the same market is "in the right general direction."

FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, speaking to reporters at the Reuters Media Summit, was responding to a plan outlined Wednesday by FCC Commissioner Kevin Martin.

Martin's proposal would allow Tribune to go private in an $8.2 billion deal by the end of the year. Tribune earlier on Wednesday said it supports the proposal.

McDowell also said that a plan by Martin to relax media ownership rules in the top 20 cities is "reasonable."

He stressed that he had not read the proposals so he did not know all the details.

(Click here to see Reuters MediaFile blog)

(Reporting by Peter Kaplan in Washington and Robert MacMillan in New York)


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