That’s how Belo Corp. Chief Executive Robert Decherd sees it.

Belo, which owns television stations as well as newspapers such as The Dallas Morning News, has been a traditional supporter of relaxing U.S. government rules that restrict what kind of media properties companies can own in the same market.

But at the Credit Suisse media conference in New York on Tuesday, Decherd said that the benefits touted by companies like Tribune and Media General are not as hot as some people thought they would be.

And even if they were, check out his assessment of the chances of ownership changes happening:

“The dose of realism is, if anybody’s banking on the rules changing in the next two years, I would suggest they add a zero to the time frame,” he said on the sidelines at the show. “With the (2006 mid-term) election, it’s DOA. I mean, it’s not going to happen.”

And that’s after the Federal Communications Commission budgeted $200,000 of your tax dollars to study the rules. Maybe Decherd’s right – conventional Beltway wisdom says that if you really want to stall something in the political process, appoint a commission to study it.