FCC Considers New TV Show Syndication Plan : Entertainment: The panel is scheduled to vote on a new set of rules to relax a 20-year ban against the networks earning profits from rerun sales.

A majority of members of the Federal Communications Commission, facing pressure to modify the agency’s proposal regulating the lucrative television program rerun market, have floated a new plan that would give the major TV networks greater entry into the syndication business.

The plan, which by the end of last week had already drawn interest from one of the FCC commissioners who had objected to the majority’s earlier proposal, is also aimed at healing the rift that has bitterly and publicly divided the five-member commission.

On Tuesday, the FCC is scheduled to vote on the new set of “financial interest and syndication rules” that will relax a 20-year ban against the networks earning profits from the sale of TV program reruns to local stations, cable networks and overseas broadcasters.

The earlier plan had been attacked by the networks as overly favorable to the big Hollywood studios that control most of the $4.8-billion rerun market. It was also criticized by independent producers, who had contended that it would hamper their efforts to get financing from the networks to make shows.

In its place, FCC sources said, the three-member majority has drafted significant revisions to its original plan that may be enough to draw at least the partial assent of Chairman Alfred C. Sikes and Commissioner James Quello, who so far have steadfastly maintained a stance favoring repeal of the rules.

Quello said the revised plan “corrects the unwarranted and objectionable provisions” he found in the original proposal credited to Commissioner Andrew Barrett, and he called it “an earnest attempt at compromise.” Although he promised not to break with Sikes, Quello said the revised proposal “gives us an opportunity to concur in part and dissent in part.”

Among the changes are provisions that would greatly expand the networks’ ability to sell programs in overseas markets. The original Barrett plan severely restricted network entry into the booming foreign syndication business.

Dropped, however, is a controversial proposed rule that would allow producers to sell a hit prime-time show to another network after it has been on the air two years. Current regulations forbid that from happening until after the show has been on the air for four years.

The networks wanted to lengthen the so-called “option period” to protect themselves from losing hit series to a rival, but the studios had pushed for lifting the rule entirely.

In exchange for dropping the option-period clause, a network would not be able to negotiate for any syndication rights until one month after it has agreed to the license fee it will pay the producers to air the show.

This “anti-extraction safeguard” is designed to prevent the networks from forcing producers to sell a financial stake in a show in return for a position on the network’s schedule.

Other last-minute changes include liberalizing the definition of “in-house” productions to embrace co-financing arrangements with independent producers. Until now, the majority of the FCC commissioners strictly defined “in-house” productions to mean only those shows that were 100% financed and produced by a network.

“All the commentators were consistent on flexibility about in-house (production) and concern about the two-year option period. The majority took those comments to heart,” said an FCC source.

However the vote comes out--Sikes and Quello could support the new plan in general but dissent from portions, or oppose the proposal while consenting in part--the issue hardly is likely to go away.

Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), the powerful chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, will be attending an FCC authorization hearing on Wednesday held by the telecommunications subcommittee, chaired by Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.).

Dingell has expressed concern about any regulations that would give a competitive edge to foreign companies over American firms.

In the context of the syndication war, that means he might look unfavorably upon regulations that block the American-owned broadcast networks from competing against the major Hollywood studios, four out of seven of which are owned by foreign corporations.