FCC Reports, Second Series, Volume 104, Number 2, Pages 375 to 719, August 1986 Page: 449

                                
Chester Associates

FCC 2d 830, 838, 50 RR 2d 1117, 1124-25 (Rev. Bd. 1981)
(subsequent history omitted) (spouse will defer to husband in all
matters, and husband alone will vote entire joint interest).
However, in Absolutely Great, supra, para. 11, the Commission
made it clear that it does not deem spousal attribution factual
inquiries to be cost-effective and has narrowly defined the factual
circumstances under which spousal attribution will be permitted
in joint tenancies in the hope of obviating most such inquiries. Id.
The history of the Commission's concern for the nuts and bolts
of limited partnerships has been very different. In Anax Broad-
casting Co., 87 FCC 2d 483, 488, 49 RR 2d 1589, 1594 (1981), a
limited partnership case not involving spouses, the Commission
held for the first time that a general partner's ownership
integration credit would be unaffected by the non-participation of
limited partners, because limited partners are passive investors
and have no authority to control the licensee. In other words, as
elaborated shortly thereafter in Central Texas Broadcasting Co.,
Ltd., 90 FCC 2d 583, 585, 51 RR 2d 1478, 1480 (Rev. Bd. 1982),
rev. denied, FCC 83-415 (Comm'n 1983), aff'd mem. sub-nom.
Blake-Potash Corp. v. FCC, No. 83-2112 (D.C. Cir. April 26,
1985), and Merrimack Valley Broadcasting, Inc., 92 FCC 2d 506,
510, 52 RR 2d 1210, 1213 (Rev. Bd. 1982), rev. denied, 55 RR 2d
23 (Comm'n 1983) (subsequent history omitted), fully integrated
general partners are entitled to integration credit commensurate
with the extent of their legal authority and voting power, even if
they have much smaller equity interests in the enterprise. Thus,
in Central Texas, a single general partner with a 1% equity
interest but total control over a limited partnership was awarded
100% integration credit, as were the two general partners with an
80% equity interest in Merrimack. From the beginning, the
analysis of limited partnerships has been a factual, functional one,
in which augmented integration credit is only awarded upon proof
of management autonomy and voting control in the hands of the
putative general partner(s). Central Texas, supra; Merrimack,
supra.
Indeed, with the passage of time, the Commission has steadily
increased its concern with the de facto bona fides of the limited
partnership ownership mechanism. Thus, in Attribution of Owner-
ship Interests, 97 FCC 2d 997, 1022-23, 55 RR 2d 1465, 1485
(1984), the Commission exempted limited partnership interests in
mass media from the multiple ownership rules when such partner-
ships meet the requirements of the Uniform Limited Partnership
Act of 1976 and the limited partners are not involved in any

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