There's trade-offs in this proposal:
The commission’s conclusion that the cable industry has grown too large will be used to justify a raft of new cable television rules and proposals. They include a cap that would prevent the nation’s largest cable company, Comcast Corporation, from growing, and would prevent other large cable companies, like Time Warner, from making any new large cable acquisitions.
The decision comes as Mr. Martin is about to formally announce his plan to relax a different media ownership rule. That rule has restricted a company from owning a newspaper and a television or radio station in the same community.
How dominant the cable industry is has been a matter of dispute. The largest cable companies say they are under increasing competition from the satellite and telephone companies. But commission officials and consumer groups say that the large cable companies dominate the marketplace. They cite as evidence the fact that cable rates have risen significantly faster than inflation.
Next week, Mr. Martin is expected to formally propose that the newspaper and broadcast cross-ownership restriction be relaxed in the nation’s largest cities if the television station is not one of the largest in the community. He has told officials that he hopes to complete action on that rule in December....Consumer groups applauded the cable television decision, although some speculated that it could give Mr. Martin some political cover as he sets about taking other aspects of media control in a deregulatory direction. (The groups oppose the deregulation of other media ownership rules.)
Sounds tailor-made for Murdoch, dunnit?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/10/washington/10cable.html?ei=5088&en=8e455c2e96e51a1e&ex=1352350800&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=all
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