By: Unknown
From: Associated Press
WASHINGTON--A federal communications regulator on Thursday said News Corp.'s proposed $5 billion (3.5 billion) acquisition of The Wall Street Journal's parent company raises competitive issues nationally and in New York.
Michael Copps, one of five commissioners with the Federal Communications Commission, is asking Chairman Kevin Martin to open a proceeding to study whether the deal for Dow Jones & Co. is in the public interest and whether it will affect diversity and competition.
"It will create a single company with enormous influence over politics, art and culture across the nation and especially in the New York metropolitan area," Copps wrote in a letter to Martin.
Copps, one of two Democrats on the FCC, has previously criticized the deal, saying it means more media consolidation and fewer independent voices.
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. currently owns two television stations and the New York Post in New York.
Murdoch has said he hoped to close the deal by the end of the year.
A FCC spokeswoman declined to comment on the matter.
