Public Review Urged on Merger Rules

The AFL-CIO and 19 consumer, labor and civil rights groups asked federal regulators to seek public comment on any changes it plans to make in media-merger rules.

The Federal Communications Commission, led by Chairman Michael K. Powell, is deciding whether to modify six rules that limit the ability of newspaper and television companies such as Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. and Tribune Co., parent of the Los Angeles Times, to expand through mergers and acquisitions.

Consumers Union, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and the Communications Workers of America were among the groups that signed the letter to the FCC.