A bipartisan group of US legislators representing the state of Illinois have fired off a letter to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin on behalf of hometown teammate Tribune Company. It simply asks that cross-ownership waivers in place to protect the company's TV/newspaper (and in one case, TV/newspaper/radio) combinations be allowed to go forward during its current ownership transaction, pending FCC action on its review of the rules.
The FCC review has been in progress since 2002. The letter asks for expeditious action on the FCC's part given that there is no end in sight to the rulemaking process. 13 members of the House of Representatives in signing the letter joined Sen. Dick Durbin (D). Four are Democrats, and of the nine Republicans, the most prominent is former Speaker Dennis Hastert.
