Local stations preparing for more integration under new FCC rules. (Media & Technology).

A handful of local radio and television stations are preparing to consolidate their operations as the Federal Communications Commission approves the final version of its new media ownership rules in the next two weeks.

Despite possible challenges in Congress and the courts, the FCC decision clears the way to implement changes that have been in the works for months.

The most immediate of those will likely be at NBC, which plans to increase the integration between the sales, programming and administrative staffs of its three local stations, KNBC-TV (Channel 4) and Telemundo stations KVEA-TV (Channel 52) and KWHY-TV (Channel 22).

Earlier this month, NBC began broadcasting all three signals from its rebuilt Burbank studio, but to win approval of its $2 billion acquisition of Telemundo last year the company agreed to keep the business operations of KWHY separate from its two other stations.

"Sometime soon, when we get the word from NBC corporate, we will move to a more coordinated sales package in Los Angeles," said Paula Madison, president and general manager of KNBC. "That was the logic behind the duopoly, and a triopoly is an extension of that model."

Besides loosening the rules governing ownership of multiple TV stations and upping the share of national audience allowed bya single company, the FCC eliminated the ban on owning a television station and newspaper in a market and to ease limits on the number of radio and television stations one company can own in a market.

For Viacom Inc., which owns CBS (two local television stations) and Infinity Broadcasting Corp. (seven local radio stations), the rule changes mean the company will be able to withdraw an application it filed with the FCC to put news channel KFWB-AM (980) in trust.

Viacom would have retained ownership but given up management of KFWB under that arrangement, a situation necessitated because with its two TV properties, Viacom was one over the limit for radio stations. Rather than sell a station, Viacom sought to get around the rules with the management change.

"This resolves the questions about whether any (Infinity) station would have to be spun off," said Roger Nadel, general manager of KFWB. "We're working under the assumption that the cloud of mystery has been lifted. It gives people here a sense of comfort."

Not end of story

Other companies that will be affected locally by the rules changes are News Corp., whose Fox Broadcasting owns both KTTV-TV (Channel 11) and KCOP-TV (Channel 13), and Tribune Co., which owns both the Los Angeles Times and KTLA-TV (Channel 5).

For Tribune, which received a waiver from the FCC when it acquired Times Mirror Corp. in 2000, the new rules mean it won't have to apply to keep both assets when KTLA's broadcast license is up for renewal in 2007.

"This allows Tribune to own both properties unencumbered," said Shaun Sheehan, vice president of Washington affairs for Tribune

"Certainly there are going to be court challenges, but if the rules stay, the cloud over whether you can own two properties is lifted," he said.

With a bipartisan group of lawmakers and public interest groups attacking the new rules, arguing they would crush diversity on the nation's airwaves, Sheehan is not alone in believing that the question of ownership limits will ultimately be sorted out in the courts.

Meantime, the Senate Commerce Committee was scheduled to hold hearings late last week to hear testimony about the changes and to consider a measure by Sen. Fritz Hollins, D-S.C., to return the overall ownership cap back to 35 percent of the national television audience. Under the new rules, a company would be allowed to own stations reaching 45 percent.

In order to overturn the new regulations Congress would have to enact a law and despite opposition by some key lawmakers, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., the prospect of such legislation passing both houses and surviving a presidential veto is considered a long shot.

In the short term, the FCC is expected to produce its final version of the new rules by early July, and once the 30-day "posting period" passes the rules would automatically go into effect, according to FCC spokesman Richard Diamond.

If NBC is any indication, local stations won't be holding back on making changes.

On June 6, less than a week after the FCC voted 3-2 for the new regulations, the network moved its remaining KVEA employees to Burbank and the next day the studio made broadcast history of sorts when it began broadcasting three stations from the same place.

The KWHY business team remains apart in Glendale, but perhaps not for long.

"We're looking forward to the time when we can sit down in a room all together and come up with ways of packaging our product for the advertisers," Madison said.