Most wild animals are prohibited by New York State law, but otherwise, pet ownership regulations are left to individual towns and villages.

Under Chairman Michael Powell, the Commission sought to significantly relax media ownership regulations.

However, this was rejected for failing to meet Canadian ownership regulations for book retailers.

Consumer advocacy groups say they hope that news of the proposed merger will highlight the way ownership regulations have eroded over the last eight years.

Current news media ownership regulations were themselves a farsighted attempt to come to grips with a new technology: television.

"Rebuilding the factual foundation of the Commission's media ownership regulations is one of my top priorities," Powell declared.

It was not for nothing that the Supreme Court, in 1978, unanimously rejected a challenge to the cross ownership regulation.

Most media ownership regulations were eased, and the cap on radio station ownership was eliminated.

The ruling came in the consolidation of five separate cases, in which the the F.C.C. had sought to defend the ownership regulations.

The result is that the F.C.C.'s content and ownership regulations are becoming increasingly irrelevant.