In a 3–2 vote that went along party lines, the Republican-controlled Federal Communications Commission today relaxed decades-old rules restricting media ownership.
Among other things, the ruling, which had been widely expected, allows companies to buy more television stations and own a newspaper and a broadcast outlet in the same city.
The new rules, which were promoted by the F.C.C. chairman, Michael K. Powell, were opposed by many Democrats, consumer groups and even some media moguls, like Ted Turner and Barry Diller. They are almost certain to be challenged in court.
"There are certain issues that will be vulnerable to attack," said Blair Levin, a former top F.C.C. official, who is now a senior analyst at Legg Mason, a Baltimore-based investment firm. "But my guess is the rules will be upheld, because the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, which is where appeals would be argued, is very pro-deregulation. I think the court will likely give them discretion."
Critics of the new rules say the eased restrictions will probably lead to a wave of mergers, concentrating control of what the public sees, hears and reads in the hands of a few giant media companies.
But many of the big media companies that supported the changes argued that existing ownership rules, many of which had been on the books since the 1940's, were outmoded in a landscape drastically changed by the rise of cable and satellite television and the Internet.
As expected, the commission said a single company could now own television stations that reach 45 percent of American households, up from 35 percent. The major networks wanted the cap eliminated entirely.
The commission also largely ended a ban on joint ownership of a newspaper and a television station in the same city. The provision lifts all cross-ownership restrictions in markets with nine or more television stations. Smaller markets would face some limits, and cross ownership would be banned in markets with three or fewer television stations.
The rule changes also make it easier for a company to own two television stations in more markets, and three stations in the biggest cities, like New York and Los Angeles.
A ban preventing mergers among the four major television networks — ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox — was kept in place.
Mr. Levin said that companies would probably not wait to see how the rule changes played out in the courts, and would begin to buy and sell media assets quite quickly.
"I don't think people will wait before they do deals," he said. "But early on, most of the deals won't be big. That will happen later.
"To me, the biggest implication of the rule changes is that everyone in the media industry has to decide whether they want to be a buyer or a seller in the next five years. The map will change within that time period. The big are going to get bigger. And there is going to be more profitability in local markets."
On Wall Street, the rule changes took no one by surprise.
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