USA

The Age: US relaxes media laws

Federal regulators relaxed decades-old rules restricting US media ownership, permitting companies to buy more TV stations and own a newspaper and a broadcast outlet in the same city.

The Republican-dominated Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted 3-2 - along party lines - to adopt a series of changes favoured by media companies, including Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

These companies argued that existing ownership rules were outmoded in a media landscape that has been substantially altered by cable TV, satellite broadcasts and the internet.

Critics say the eased restrictions would likely lead to a wave of mergers landing a few giant media companies in control of even more of what the public sees, hears and reads.