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On the heels of the FCC announcement, the Justice Department announced its own approval of the merger.

However, the approval didn't come without plenty of conditions. And one commissioner, Michael J. Copps (left of chair Julius Genachowski in picture), gave a piece of his mind to the others who voted for approval.

The <A HREF="http://www.fcc.gov/">Federal Communications Commission</A> has approved the merger of media conglomerate <A HREF="http://www.viacom.com/">Viacom Inc.</A> and <A HREF="http://www.cbs.com/">CBS Corporation</A>, one of the "Big Three" television networks. Viacom will acquire CBS in a stock swap; the resulting entity will have one year to unload enough stations to bring it into compliance with regulations limiting its share of the television viewing audience to 35% of the total market. Stations in Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas&ndash;Ft. Worth, Baltimore, and Sacramento may be sold to comply with the restriction. The approval was granted Tuesday, May 2.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may stop making suggestions and start meting out punishment to broadcasters who fail to make adequate progress in changing over to digital technology, according to reports from Washington.

A "land rush" of "big-ticket deals" is about to sweep through the TV broadcasting industry in the wake of a <A HREF="http://www.fcc.gov/">Federal Communications Commission</A> decision on August 5 to lift the limit on station ownership by any one broadcaster. Commissioners voted 4-1 for the change. Feeling the heat from satellite services and cable systems, broadcasters have been applying heavy pressure on the FCC to change the rules, established in the 1930s, that limit station ownership to one per company in any single geographic area. The rules were originally intended to ensure diversity of programming and editorial content.