Multiple Ownership Rules

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  • President Trump this week issued an Executive Order instructing various government agencies to take steps to move marijuana from Schedule
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In the last few weeks, I’ve spoken to meetings of several broadcast organizations about important pending issues at the FCC and, unfortunately, had to cancel my planned appearance at the TVOT (TV of Tomorrow) conference in New York City where I was to have talked about the same issues.  In any such conversation, probably the most talked about issue is the potential change in the broadcast ownership rules.  Comments are due to be filed in the FCC’s Quadrennial Review of media ownership on Wednesday (December 17).  We recently explored the radio issues to be considered, and they are relatively straightforward – should the FCC retain or significantly modify the local radio ownership rules?  But I am finding that there is some confusion about the TV rules. The comments due on Wednesday address only the local TV ownership rules, but potential changes in the national rules are also being considered in a separate proceeding, and changes in both are needed to allow some of the pending transactions to go forward (like the Nexstar-TEGNA deal).  We thought that we would explore the TV issues in this article.

The national ownership caps were set by Congress and prohibit broadcast owners from holding an interest in TV stations reaching more than 39% of the national television audience (though, in practice, the real limit is much higher as the audience of UHF television stations, which are now the majority of stations, still count as half that of VHF stations, the dominant transmission standard in 2004 when the 39% cap was adopted by Congress – see our article here on the UHF discount).  The local TV ownership rules which currently limit any owner from having attributable interests in more than 2 TV stations in any market, are considered by the FCC in Congressionally mandated Quadrennial Reviews of the local ownership rules.  A waiver of both of these mandates, or a change in the rules themselves, is necessary before a deal like that proposed by Nexstar can be approved.  Is that likely to happen?  There are many issues to consider.

Continue Reading The Limits on Ownership of Over-the-Air Television Stations – Looking at the Two FCC Proceedings that Could Change the Rules
  • The FCC’s Media Bureau announced that the deadline for broadcasters to comply with the new foreign sponsorship identification requirements has
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Even with the holidays upon us, there are many regulatory dates for broadcasters in December and early January.  That is particularly true this year, now that the federal government shutdown has ended and the FCC is playing catch-up on regulatory deadlines.  As we discuss below and in more detail here, many of these revised dates for the submission of documents that would have been due during the shutdown will fall in the month of December. 

But before we dive into the December dates, one item that broadcasters can scratch off their calendars this month is the Biennial Ownership Report, which would have been due December 1.  In August, the FCC’s Media Bureau waived the filing requirement while the FCC considers whether to even continue the requirement for the filing of these reports (see our discussion here).  Broadcasters now have until June 1, 2027 to file the report unless the FCC concludes its review before that date and announces a different filing requirement.  The Media Bureau made clear that ownership reports required at other times (e.g., after the consummation of an assignment or transfer of broadcast station licenses or after the grant of a new station’s construction permit) are still required.  It is simply the Biennial Report required from all full-power broadcasters and from LPTV licensees that is on hold. 

Here are some of the upcoming dates and deadlines in December that you should be watching:

December 1 is the extended deadline for all full power and Class A television stations and full power AM and FM radio stations, both commercial and noncommercial, to upload their Quarterly Issues/Program lists for the third quarter of 2025 to their Online Public Inspection Files (OPIFs).  These lists were originally due October 10 but could not be filed by stations due to the government shutdown.  The lists should identify the issues of importance to the station’s service area and the programs that the station aired between July 1 and September 30, 2025, that addressed those issues.  These lists must be timely uploaded to your station’s OPIF, as the untimely uploads of these documents probably have resulted in more fines in the last decade than for any other FCC rule violation.  As you finalize your lists, do so carefully and accurately, as they are the only official records of how your station is serving the public and addressing the needs and interests of its community.  See our article here for more on the importance that the FCC has, in the past, placed on the Quarterly Issues/Programs list obligation.

Continue Reading December 2025 Regulatory Dates for Broadcasters – Post-Shutdown Deadlines, EEO Public File Reports, Comment Deadlines, Political Windows, and more
  • The FCC and the FCC’s Media Bureau released several Public Notices (here, here, here, and here
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Wasting no time following the reopening of the government, the FCC has published its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the 2022 Quadrennial Review in the Federal Register, setting December 17 as the deadline for initial comments on the questions asked by the FCC.  We summarized the issues raised by the FCC in our article here.  While the FCC will review the local radio ownership limits for television, following the prohibitions on owning two of the top 4 TV stations in a market being thrown out by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in July (see our article here), that FCC review will focus principally on whether the ownership limit of two TV stations in a market should be continued, or if one party should be able to own more. The 39% cap on national ownership of TV stations is being considered in a separate proceeding (see our discussion here).  The FCC will also look at the dual network rule, which currently forbids the common ownership of two of the top 4 TV networks.  With control issues seemingly settled for now at the networks, pressure to move on reform of that rule may have lessened.  Probably the biggest impact of the Quadrennial Review will be on radio, where the local ownership rules have remained unchanged since 1996, limiting one owner from owning more than 8 stations (only 5 of which can be FM stations) in even the biggest markets with more than 45 total stations. 

Radio’s role in the media marketplace has become more and more challenging over the last decade, as its traditional place in the car has been challenged by new audio entertainment options.  As those options proliferate, sounding and functioning  more and more like radio, they are becoming more accessible to the public and more and more popular with listeners.  Over-the-air radio now competes with streaming services, podcasts, satellite radio, and other audio media.  These changes in listening habits are coupled with a change in the advertising marketplace, as the digital media giants now take over two-thirds of the local advertising market that was once the province of radio, television and newspapers.

Continue Reading December 17 Comment Date Set in 2022 Quadrennial Review Looking at Local Ownership Rules – What is at Stake, Particularly for Radio?

With the federal government shutdown finally ending yesterday, broadcasters need to be prepared to take steps to comply with FCC rules whose enforcement has been put on hold since October 1, when the government shut down most FCC electronic filing systems, including the online public files.  Now that the FCC has reopened, the FCC has recognized that its initial guidance (about which we wrote here), issued in the face of what might have been expected to be a short suspension of activities, was not realistic given the length of the shutdown and the potential issues that could arise with many broadcasters and other regulated entities all trying to upload their documents to various FCC systems by the end  of the next business day after government operations resumed (see our list of concerns here). 

Thus, yesterday, when the FCC reopened, it released a Public Notice postponing the deadline for filings due during the shutdown until at least Tuesday, November 18, with a promise of another public notice before that date to evaluate whether that date was in fact realistic or if a further extension for some or all filings would be warranted.  In fact, that Public Notice suggests that parties not rush to upload everything immediately, but only to submit time-sensitive documents to the FCC.  Given that, as of 9 AM Eastern on Friday morning (on November 14), some FCC databases including the online public file still are offline, it appears realistic to assume that some further extensions will be required.  [Update, 11/14/ 2025, 4:00 PM ET, the FCC has now posted notices on the help pages for both the Online Public Inspection File and for LMS where applications are filed, saying that neither system will be available for use until November 18, seemingly insuring a further extension of the dates by which filings will be due] Consult your own legal and technical advisors as to how these deadlines affect your operations and as to what filings should be prioritized once the FCC’s systems are back up and operating. 

Continue Reading Federal Government Reopens with FCC Decision to Provide More Time to Submit Delayed Filings – and Watch for Comment Deadlines in Major Proceedings on Media Ownership and the ATSC 3.0 Transition

We would normally provide you with some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the past week, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations.  But, as the government shutdown has drastically limited activity at the FCC, and as Congress did…