If Clear Channel Communications' proposed acquisition of the Ackerley Group is approved, some are contending Clear Channel will have an unfair, if not illegal, monopoly of the public airwaves in several cities including Syracuse. Clear Channel lawyers have responded.
Attorneys from Wiley, Rein & Fielding LLP say, "in modifying the radio-television cross-ownership rule, the [Federal Communications] Commission already has determined that, where at least 20 independent media voices remain in the market, a combination of one TV and six radio stations is consistent with a diverse and competitive market. Clear Channel has demonstrated that 20 independent media voices will remain in the market. Period. End of story."
Clear Channel did acknowledge that spin-offs of one or more of its properties would be required in the Utica-Rome market.