Aww naw, hell naw..

The FCC done up and done it:

Lawmakers Blast FCC Media Ownership Rule

Within minutes of the FCC decision Monday to let companies increase their media holdings in single markets, lawmakers began blasting the decision.

"The decision today by the [FCC] is a blow to diversity, competition and the public having access to multiple sources of information," Reps. Ciro Rodriguez, D-Texas, chairman of Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Elijah Cummings, D-Md., chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus and David Wu, D-Ore., chairman of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, said in a written statement.

"We are extremely concerned that these new changes will significantly undermine current FCC rules that were intended to promote minority participation, and preserve multiple media voices and opinions in the electronic and print media industries," they said.

On the floor of the Senate, Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., called the decision "dumb and dangerous," and warned it will result in "an orgy" of mergers and acquisitions. He said the new rules will mean less diversity and will result in a system with many stations, but just "one ventriloquist."

The FCC voted 3-2 on party lines to update the rules on media ownership. The new rules allow the broadcast networks to own television stations that reach a combined 45 percent of the national audience, up from 35 percent, and lift a ban that prevents a company from owning both a newspaper and a television or radio station -- except in the smallest markets...

Interestingly, Clear Channel was also critical of the decision, which was not sufficiently evil to satisfy their demonic urges:

Clear Channel critical of FCC decision

...Clear Channel President and Chief Operating Officer Mark Mays charged the FCC with "missing the mark" in its efforts to act in the public interest.

"This FCC action will extinguish the substantial consumer benefits brought on by radio deregulation in 1996," Mays says. "Unfortunately, the FCC chose politics over the public interest, and American consumers will be the ultimate victims."

San Antonio-based Clear Channel, the nation's largest radio company which grew from about 40 radio stations in 1995 to more than 1,200 today, has argued that deregulation helped to save the struggling radio industry.

"Just 10 years ago, nearly 60 percent of the nation's radio stations were operating in the red, cutting news budgets and laying off employees," Mays says. "Deregulation changed all that. But instead of letting radio stations find better and more innovative ways to serve their listeners, the FCC is intent on turning the clock back to a time when the industry was incapable of providing consumers the variety of programming it does today..."

Don't you love the spin these guys put on it? And note this article's chilling last sentence:

Clear Channel operates eight radio stations in the Dayton market.

My high school English teacher would call that "foreshadowing".