The FCC has spoken - what is local outlook? By Ray Barrington News-Chronicle A few weeks ago, this column looked at the upcoming change in FCC rules regarding television and radio station ownership. Tuesday, those rules were passed, and now it's time to turn from planning to action. But we may not see much of it in Green Bay. Some of the rules just don't apply here. And when it comes to radio, don't look for many, if any, changes. Three chains - Midwest Communications, Woodward Communications and Cumulus - already have gobbled up the market. So let's look at television. There are three rules that directly affect the Green Bay market. One allows broadcasters to acquire TV stations that serve up to 45 percent of the nation's viewers, a hike from 35 percent. Another says that in markets with four to eight TV stations - Green Bay-Appleton has seven commercial ones - a newspaper can buy a TV station, something that had been banned. (In some cities, including Milwaukee, newspapers that had owned TV and radio stations before the ban was instituted could keep them.) And the third allows a company to own two stations, but only one of them can be in the top four in ratings in the market. Around here, the three VHF stations - WBAY-TV Channel 2 (Young Broadcasting), WFRV-TV Channel 5 (Viacom-CBS) and WLUK-TV Channel 11 (Emmis Broadcasting) have strong chain ties and probably will stay put. In the UHF band, WIWB-TV Channel 14 is owned by Acme Communications, an offshoot run by former WB network founder Jamie Kelleher. It isn't network ownership, but it's close. Which brings us to WGBA-TV Channel 26, owned by Aries Telecommunications, and WACY-TV Channel 32, owned by Ace Broadcasting. Neither is a chain-owned station. And TV-26, with its NBC affiliation, may go into play. Mark Kramer, general manager at the station, just doesn't know what's going to happen. "It's too early in the game," he said. "We're owned by two families, and they're happy with what they have. Would they sell? Who knows." He noted Green Bay has only three-tenths of a percent of the national audience. "It costs as much to run a TV station in Chicago as it does in Green Bay, with equipment needs and all that," he said. WGBA also has a local marketing agreement with WACY. While Ace Broadcasting owns WACY, it's programmed (and ad time is sold) by WGBA. The agreement runs until 2005. But WACY is a UPN affiliate, and UPN is owned by Viacom, which also owns CBS. Might Viacom buy WACY and run it through WFRV? And then there's the newspaper angle. Gannett, which owns the Green Bay Press-Gazette, Appleton Post-Crescent, Manitowoc, Sheboygan, Fond du Lac, Stevens Point, et cetera, has said it's interested in adding to its broadcast properties (it owns 22 stations) in markets where it has a newspaper presence. WGBA would seem to be the one in play because of its news coverage; Gannett has moved into local TV with its marketing with WFRV. As for now, who knows? But there are many factors in play. Kramer, for one, rather likes the way things are now, because he feels his station and WACY have more of a local feel. "Some of the local TV stations may lose that community appeal; you get a network involved or major groups, you lose a little appeal. We do high school football for WACY. We feel it's a community minded thing for us to do. Or we carry the WIAA basketball tournament on 32. Would that float with a major group out of New York?" He doesn't know. And neither do we. But if there's any question about how this column feels about the differences between local ownership and national chains ... well, you haven't been reading lately. Barrington is a reporter for The News-Chronicle. His column appears here Fridays. Contact him via e-mail at [email protected] or call 432-2941.