Playing for keeps: three media giants hope the FCC will waive crossownership rules.(Washington: regulation / law / courts)

Three of the largest TV-station groups in the U.S. could be ordered to divest major media properties beginning next year unless they win favorable treatment from the FCC.

Media General, Tribune Co. and Gannett own both a TV station and a newspaper in a total of eight markets, despite FCC rules forbidding crossownership in a single market. The combinations have been permitted to exist because of temporary waivers granted by the FCC and loopholes that allow a TV-station owner to buy a newspaper in a single market and hold onto both properties until the station's license is up for renewal.

Richmond, Va.-based Media General will be the first company to go under the FCC's microscope. The company's license for WBTW Florence, S.C., expires Dec. 1. The company also owns The Morning News in Myrtle Beach, which is considered the same market by the FCC. If the FCC denies a waiver, one of the properties would have to be sold, probably by October 2005.

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