JD reported unmoved by Fin-Syn plea
The Justice Dept. has had a longstanding opposition to the financial interest and syndication rules, which limit the Big Three networks' participation in production and syndication of TV programs. Industry sources indicated that studio lobbyist Jack Valenti met with either Attorney General Janet Reno or a top assistant April 9 to ask for Justice to reverse its stance and to back the regs.
Reno has yet to act on the request, and sources said prospects for a Justice reversal are unlikely.
The Federal Communications Commission set in motion plans to eliminate the fin-syn rules within two years. The Hollywood production community supports the regs, which have prevented the networks from gaining unfettered entry into the TV production and syndication business.
Before the webs can take full advantage of the FCC's action to eliminate the rules, they must also convince Los Angeles federal judge Robert Kelleher to lift fin-syn-related consent decrees.
The antitrust consent decrees stem from Justice Dept. lawsuits filed against the webs in the 1970s alleging anti-competitive acts to thwart TV program diversity.
To settle the suits, the nets agreed to the consent decrees, which in many ways paralleled the old FCC fin-syn rules. The decrees have remained in place despite JD findings during the Reagan and Bush administrations that they were no longer necessary.
Valenti's lobbying foray was an effort to convince Reno that the consent decrees must be retained, sources said.
Kelleher is expected to rule soon on whether to lift the decrees, and unless the Clinton Justice Dept. comes out for retention, it's anticipated they will be lifted.
Valenti, through a Motion Picture Assn. of America spokeswoman, declined comment. However, one industry source disputed claims that Reno has flatly rejected Valenti's appeal. "It's incorrect to say there was a definite no" from Reno, said the source.
Hollywood's bid for action from Justice is being hampered in part because President Clinton has yet to name an assistant attorney general in charge of antitrust. It has been speculated the job may go to D.C. lawyer Ann Bingaman, who is married to Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.).
At the just-ended National Assn. of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas, CBS/Broadcast Group president Howard Stringer suggested that the battle on fin-syn was far from over, joking about the parade of studio lobbyists that have recently been pleading the pro-fin-syn case in Washington.
