- FCC Commissioner Simington and his Chief of Staff, Gavin Wax, published an article advocating for DOGE-style reform of the FCC.
Multiple Ownership Rules
This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: April 28, 2025 to May 2, 2025
- President Trump signed an Executive Order purporting to end federal subsidies for NPR and PBS provided through the Corporation for
Local Broadcast Ownership Rules – How Could Ownership Deregulation Play Out?
In many of the comments filed by broadcasters and their representatives in the FCC’s “Delete, Delete, Delete” docket, high on the list of rules suggested for deletion were the local broadcast ownership restrictions. Changes in these rules were also a subject high on the discussion list in Las Vegas at the recent NAB Convention. With all of the interest in changes to these rules, we thought that we should spend a little time looking at the possible routes by which FCC action on changes to the ownership rules could occur.
First, it should be noted that the local ownership rules are different from the national cap on television ownership which, as we recently wrote, the NAB has asked the FCC to abolish. A review of the 39% national audience cap was started in the Pai administration at the FCC (see our article here), and the NAB is seeking to revive and resolve that proceeding, arguing that national caps are no longer necessary given the competition from so many other national video services that are unrestrained by any ownership limitations.Continue Reading Local Broadcast Ownership Rules – How Could Ownership Deregulation Play Out?
This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: April 21, 2025 to April 25, 2025
This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: April 14, 2025 to April 18, 2025
- The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a decision that raises significant questions about the FCC’s ability
This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: April 7, 2025 to April 11, 2025
- The NAB and SoundExchange filed with the Copyright Royalty Board a proposed settlement of the pending litigation over the 2026-2030
NAB Requests the End of the 39% Cap on Nationwide Television Station Ownership – Looking at the Issues
The NAB last week submitted a letter asking the FCC to quickly repeal the 39% cap on national ownership of television stations. This cap precludes the ownership by one company or individual of an attributable interest in television stations capable of reaching more than 39% of the television households in the United States. The rule has been in place since 2004. When adopted, over-the-air television was still analog, so the cap included a UHF discount as, at the time, UHF stations were deemed inferior to those that transmitted on VHF channels. While the transition to digital reversed that relationship as UHF is now seen as preferable, the discount remains, counting UHF stations as reaching only half the households reached by VHF stations. So, were an owner to have exclusively UHF stations, it could theoretically own stations reaching 78% of TV households.
Yet even 78% is not 100%, and any cable or satellite channel, or even any broadcast program provider like a network or syndicator, and any online video provider, has no limit to the number of households that it can be theoretically reach. The NAB argues that this is fundamentally unfair and impedes competition in today’s video marketplace. While some might argue that most of these other services are not free, requiring a subscription to an MVPD or a connection to the internet, practically speaking, in today’s world, many of these competitive channels have as much practical reach as do local broadcast TV stations. Only the delivery method is different.Continue Reading NAB Requests the End of the 39% Cap on Nationwide Television Station Ownership – Looking at the Issues
This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: March 31, 2025 to April 4, 2025
- On the eve of its national convention in Las Vegas, the National Association of Broadcasters filed a letter with the
Less Than a Week to Go Before “Delete, Delete, Delete” Proposals on Eliminating Unnecessary FCC Regulations Are Due – What Should Be Included?
A few weeks ago, FCC Chairman Carr announced the beginning of the “Delete, Delete, Delete” proceeding at the FCC – looking at “alleviating unnecessary regulatory burdens” on the companies that it regulates, across all industries, to unleash companies to innovate, invest, and expand. Comments are due April 11 and replies April 28. With less than a week to go before comments are filed in this latest attempt to lessen the regulatory burden on broadcasters, we thought that we would look at some of the issues that may come up in this proceeding, and some of the policies that stubbornly remain on the books but should be addressed.
Broadcasters are expected to advance many ideas. But, before considering some of the issues likely to be addressed, it is important to put this proceeding in context. This is not the first time broadcasters have been asked to engage in this kind of exercise. In the 1980s, the FCC conducted multiple proceedings to address the “regulatory underbrush,” eliminating, among other things, rules that had required specific amounts of news and public affairs programming on every station, rules mandating a specific number of PSAs, rules requiring specific program and engineering logs as official records for every station, and policies restricting advertising for certain perceived vices like parimutuel betting and fortune tellers. In the 1990s, as a result of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, other obligations were changed (including the adoption of the current local radio ownership rules, the abolition of the ability of any party to file a competing application contending that it should get the right to operate a broadcast station every time a license renewal was filed, and extending the license renewal term from three to eight years (see our article on some of those changes, here). Just eight years ago, FCC Chairman Pai initiated the Modernization of Media Regulation Initiative (see our article here). That proceeding resulted in the abolition or streamlining of many FCC rules, such as the main studio rule (see our articles here and here), some children’s television rules (see our posts here and here), and rules prohibiting same-service radio program duplication by commonly owned stations, although the prohibition on FM/FM duplication by commonly owned stations serving the same area was reinstated by the last administration, though that action remains subject to a reconsideration petition (see our articles here, here, here, and here on some of the other changes brought about by Chairman Pai’s initiative). However, there were many other obligations left unaddressed. There are so many rules applicable to broadcasters, and so many competitive changes in the market have impacted the relevance of many of those rules, that no proceeding ever seems to address every issue it should. But we expect that many rules will be addressed in this “Delete” proceeding. Continue Reading Less Than a Week to Go Before “Delete, Delete, Delete” Proposals on Eliminating Unnecessary FCC Regulations Are Due – What Should Be Included?
This Week in Regulation for Broadcasters: March 17, 2025 to March 21, 2025
- FCC Commissioner Starks announced that he informed President Trump and Senator Minority Leader Schumer (D-NY) that he will resign his