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NAB, station groups turn up heat for small-market duopolies
When Montclair Communications bought WZVN-TV Fort Myers, Fla., in 1996, the ABC affiliate was finally experiencing a turnaround. After having been flipped by three owners in the previous four years and nearly losing its local newscast, it was seeing a payoff from a local marketing agreement with Waterman Broadcasting, owner of local NBC affiliate WBBH-TV
WZVN-TV expanded local programming, secured $2.6 million for new equipment and beefed up its news staff to 33 people.
But the profitable venture with Waterman, which supplies programming and advertising, is under FCC orders to unwind next year. The FCC said Waterman's involvement makes it the de facto owner of WZVN-TV and Fort Myers, the 70th-ranked market, isn't big enough to permit ownership of two stations in a market.
Because of scores of situations like that in Fort Myers, plus the lure of creating even more smaller-market pairs, TV-station groups are stepping up the pressure for new rules that would allow ownership of two stations in medium and small markets.
Winning duopoly rights in smaller markets has been a top goal of broadcasters since the FCC allowed large-market duopolies in 1999. Broadcast lobbyists think they have a pretty good shot...