# Newspaper/Radio Cross-Ownership Waiver Policy
**AGENCY:**
Federal Communications Commission.
**ACTION:**
Notice; termination of proceeding.
**SUMMARY:**
The Commission terminates this proceeding because it has initiated a new rulemaking proceeding that considers broader issues that subsume those raised in the proceeding being terminated.
**DATES:**
The Commission terminates MM Docket No. 96-197 effective October 18, 2001.
**FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:**
Eric J. Bash, (202) 418-2130 or *[email protected].*
**SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:**
The Commission began this proceeding in 1996 when it released a Notice of Inquiry ( *NOI* ) 61 FR 53694 (October 15, 1996) in MM Docket No. 96-197. The *NOI* asked whether the Commission should change its policies regarding waiver of the newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rule for newspaper/radio combinations. The Commission now has released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking ( *NPRM* ), 66 FR 50991 (October 5, 2001), that asks whether the Commission should eliminate or modify the newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rule. As a result, the *NPRM* seeks comment not just on whether the Commission should change its waiver policies for newspaper/radio combinations, but also on whether the Commission should change its rule and/or waiver policies for newspaper/radio and newspaper/television combinations. The issues raised in the *NPRM* therefore subsume those raised in the *NOI* . As a result, the Commission terminates the *NOI* proceeding. In doing so, the Commission recognizes that it has, in a handful of cases, waived the newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rule, subject to the outcome of the *NOI* . All such waivers will now be subject to the outcome of the *NPRM.*
*Ordering Clauses:* The Commission terminates MM Docket No. 96-197.
Federal Communications Commission.
Magalie Roman Salas,
Secretary.