39% national cap

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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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Updated, 9/9/25 to correct typo in opening date for the filing of applications for new LPTV and TV translator stations in the second bullet below.

Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the past two weeks, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how…

  • The FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau announced that October 3 is the deadline for EAS Participants, including broadcasters,
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Although many, including Congress, take the last of their summer vacations in August, there are still many dates to which broadcasters should be paying attention this month.  One deadline that most commercial broadcasters should be anticipating is the FCC’s order that will set the amount of their Annual Regulatory Fees, which will be paid sometime in September before the October 1 start of the federal government’s new fiscal year.  As we noted here, the FCC proposed to decrease fees this year for broadcasters from the amounts paid in prior years.  Also, as we noted here, the FCC has adopted a new regulatory fee calculation methodology for earth stations.  Watch for the announcement of the final amounts for the Annual Regulatory Fees, along with an announcement of the deadline for their payment.  These announcements usually come in late August or in the first few days of September. 

Here are some of the other regulatory deadlines this month:

August 1 the deadline for radio and television station employment units in California, Illinois, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Wisconsin with five or more full-time employees to upload their Annual EEO Public File Report to their stations’ Online Public Inspection Files.  A station employment unit is a station or cluster of commonly controlled stations serving the same general geographic area having at least one common employee.  For employment units with five or more full-time employees, the annual report covers hiring and employment outreach activities for the prior year.  A link to the uploaded report must also be included on the home page of each station’s website, if the station has a website.  Be timely getting these reports into your station’s OPIF, as even a single late report has in the past lead to significant FCC fines (see our article here about a recent $26,000 fine for a single late EEO report).Continue Reading August 2025 Regulatory Dates for Broadcasters – Watching for the Annual Reg Fee Announcement, EEO Annual Filings, Comment Deadlines, and Political Windows

  • The FCC announced that comments and reply comments are due August 4 and August 22, respectively, responding to its Public
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Only three weeks ago, we published an article on the FCC’s request for public comment to update the record in the 2018 proceeding looking at whether to change the 39% national cap on the ownership of television stations. That request for comments was published in the Federal Register yesterday, setting the deadline for comments. Comments are due August 4, 2025 and reply comments are to be filed by August 22. Although we published our look at the issues in this proceeding only a few weeks ago, we thought that we would republish it for those who may have missed it. Here is what we said on June 26:

Last week, the FCC released a Public Notice requesting comments to refresh the record compiled in 2018 in a proceeding that proposed to review the TV national ownership cap.  That cap limits any company from having attributable interests in full-power TV stations that reach more than 39% of the nationwide TV audience.  That 2018 proceeding was begun (with a late December 2017 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking)  to assess whether the FCC should raise the cap, and also to explore whether it has the power to do so (see our article here).  This week’s Public Notice, released by the FCC’s Media Bureau, not only seeks information about the questions raised in 2018, but it also poses a number of new issues reflecting the concerns of the current Commission. 

The Public Notice is not seeking comment on the local broadcast ownership rules that govern how many TV (and radio) stations one owner can have in any market.  Those issues are separately considered in the FCC’s Congressionally-mandated Quadrennial Reviews, where every four years the FCC must justify that the local ownership rules remain necessary in the public interest as a result of competition.  The Commission should be considering the local rules this year, as it is in the fourth and final year of the Quadrennial Review cycle for 2022, and also possibly because of the results of the pending appeal of the 2018 Quadrennial Review (see our article here) – a decision in that appeal could be released at any time.  The 39% national TV ownership cap was adopted by Congress and is not specifically subject to the Quadrennial review – hence the questions that were raised in the 2018 proceeding about the FCC’s authority to review these rules.Continue Reading Comment Dates Set on the FCC Request to Update the Record on the 39% National TV Ownership Cap

  • Olivia Trusty was sworn in as an FCC Commissioner, restoring the Commission’s quorum just before its regular monthly Open Meeting. 
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Last week, the FCC released a Public Notice requesting comments to refresh the record compiled in 2018 in a proceeding that proposed to review the TV national ownership cap.  That cap limits any company from having attributable interests in full-power TV stations that reach more than 39% of the nationwide TV audience.  That 2018 proceeding was begun (with a late December 2017 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking)  to assess whether the FCC should raise the cap, and also to explore whether it has the power to do so (see our article here).  This week’s Public Notice, released by the FCC’s Media Bureau, not only seeks information about the questions raised in 2018, but it also poses a number of new issues reflecting the concerns of the current Commission. 

The Public Notice is not seeking comment on the local broadcast ownership rules that govern how many TV (and radio) stations one owner can have in any market.  Those issues are separately considered in the FCC’s Congressionally-mandated Quadrennial Reviews, where every four years the FCC must justify that the local ownership rules remain necessary in the public interest as a result of competition.  The Commission should be considering the local rules this year, as it is in the fourth and final year of the Quadrennial Review cycle for 2022, and also possibly because of the results of the pending appeal of the 2018 Quadrennial Review (see our article here) – a decision in that appeal could be released at any time.  The 39% national TV ownership cap was adopted by Congress and is not specifically subject to the Quadrennial review – hence the questions that were raised in the 2018 proceeding about the FCC’s authority to review these rules.Continue Reading FCC Asks for Public Comment on Proposal to Update the 39% National Ownership Cap for Television