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 Federal  Communications  Commission  FCC  04-  45 
 JOINT  STATEMENT  OF  COMMISSIONERS  MICHAEL  J.  COPPS  AND  JONATHAN  S.  ADELSTEIN 
 DISSENTING 
 Re:  Fant  Broadcasting  Company  of  Nebraska,  Inc.  (Assignor)  and  Pappas  Telecasting  of  Central  Nebraska  (Assignee)  For  Assignment  of  Licenses  of:  Stations  KHGI-  TV,  Kearney,  Nebraska,  and 
 KWNB-  TV,  Hayes  Center,  Nebraska,  and  Fant  Broadcasting  Company  of  Nebraska,  Inc.  (Assignor)  and  Colins  Broadcasting  Company  (Assignee)  For  Assignment  of  Licenses  of  Station 
 KSNB-  TV,  Superior,  Nebraska,  and  Television  Translator  Station  K17CI,  Beatrice,  Nebraska,  and  K22CX  and  K18CD  Lincoln,  Nebraska. 


 On  June  2  nd  ,  the  Commission  significantly  weakened  its  media  concentration  protections  and  allowed  corporations  to  own  even  more  stations  in  each  market.  As  media  consolidation  increases,  the 
 Commission  must  be  vigilant  in  investigating  relationships  between  companies  to  ensure  that  they  do  not  exercise  control  over  other  stations  in  the  market  in  excess  of  the  few  limits  that  remain.  Today,  however, 
 the  Commission  demonstrates  that  it  intends  to  look  the  other  way  when  licensees  to  push  the  consolidation  envelope  even  further. 


 We  believe  the  transactions  presented  here  raise  questions  of  fact  requiring  further  investigation.  As  petitioners  point  out,  several  facts  related  to  the  transfer  of  the  Fant  stations  to  Pappas  and  Colins  call 
 into  question  whether  there  was  a  premature  transfer  of  control  and  whether  Colins  is  truly  an  independent  buyer.  Moreover,  there  are  questions  of  whether  the  LMA  in  combination  with  having  paid 
 upfront  over  90  percent  of  the  value  of  the  station  and  retaining  an  option  to  purchase  the  license  renders  the  Colins  stations  attributable  to  Pappas.  Further,  there  is  the  question  of  whether  the  Fant-  Pappas-Colins 
 transaction  was  structured  to  allow  Pappas  to  pay  almost  all  of  the  purchase  price  of  the  Fant  stations  and  Colins  to  obtain  one  of  the  stations  at  a  small  fraction  of  its  value. 


 Taken  as  a  whole,  the  structure  and  value  of  the  transaction  raise  a  number  of  questions  of  fact  related  to  these  transactions.  We  believe  that  we  cannot  grant  these  applications  without  further  review. 
 We  would  therefore  have  designated  these  applications  for  a  hearing. 
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