39% national cap

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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.  Payment of those fees will be due sometime in September before the October 1 start of the federal government’s new fiscal year.  These announcements usually come in late August or in the first few days of September.  So be on the lookout for that announcement.

Noncommercial broadcasters who were anticipating a filing window for new noncommercial educational FM translators in the reserved band (88.1-91.9 MHz) in August, when it was originally scheduled to be held, should instead look later in the year, as the filing window has been moved from August to November (see our discussion here).  Applications can be drafted for the November window beginning August 3, but they cannot be filed until the window opens.

Continue Reading August 2026 Regulatory Dates for Broadcasters – Annual EEO Public File Reports, Political Windows, and more

Last week, the FCC released a draft Report and Order which, if adopted at its August regular monthly open meeting, will repeal the 39% cap that currently limits the nationwide reach of local television station owners.  That cap prohibits one owner from having interests in TV stations reaching more than 39% of the nation’s TV households.  Computation of the 39% reach assumes that any TV station in a Nielsen TV market reaches all of the TV households in that market.  However, it also includes a 50% discount for UHF stations, a relic of a previous era when VHF stations (those on channels 2 through 13) dominated and UHF stations were considered disadvantaged and thus worthy of being counted as only half the audience reach (a dynamic that is considered to have been reversed in the digital broadcasting world).  Yet, as we wrote here, that UHF discount is still in place.

The Commission’s proposal is to eliminate the cap, but to conduct a case-by-case review of any proposed acquisition that would take an owner above 39% (while still using the 50% UHF discount).  In reading the draft Order, it appears that the FCC would be starting from a presumption that the nationwide reach of a particular broadcaster is not a public interest problem – unless someone shows that it is.  The draft Order states that there are many other video entertainment delivery competitors with nationwide reach – including the TV networks, cable networks and, more importantly in today’s world, all of the streaming companies.  According to the FCC, just being able to deliver programming on a nationwide basis does not raise issues for consumers, as a consumer has the choice of many different national programming providers.  Issues may be more likely to arise on the local level if access to local news and information is limited.  However, those questions of local ownership are not being considered in this proceeding, which is looking only at the limits on the ability of one owner to own stations that have a greater nationwide reach than currently allowed.  Local ownership limits are being considered in the Quadrennial Review proceeding, likely to be resolved later this year.

Continue Reading FCC Plans to Raise the 39% National TV Ownership Cap – What are the Proposals and What are the Issues?
  • FCC Chairman Carr stated in a cable news interview that the FCC could investigate broadcasters and their on-air personalities for
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The unusual story of the sale of TEGNA Inc. has seemingly (more on that below) come to an end after a four-year FCC review process, encompassing two attempted purchases, two administrative actions involving multiple rule waivers and novel questions of law, but no rulings by the Commissioners themselves. On Thursday, the FCC’s Media Bureau issued an order approving the transfer of control of the company to Nexstar Media and the deal was closed by the parties that same day.  Today, we look back at the unusual actions leading to the sale of TEGNA and at what last week’s approval may preview as to major changes ahead for the broadcast industry .

The unusual nature of the sale of TEGNA did not start with last week’s decision but instead began in 2022 when TEGNA first announced its plan to be acquired by Standard General.  After an application seeking approval for that sale was filed, objections were submitted from labor organizations, public interest groups, and representatives from the multichannel video provider community.  Despite divestiture plans to bring Standard General into compliance with the FCC’s television ownership rules, in 2023, the FCC’s Media Bureau, after a full year of consideration, decided that it could not reach a decision on the case, but that the case had to be reviewed by an FCC Administrative Law Judge to hold a hearing to decide two issues – neither of which had ever been the source for the rejection of a broadcast sale in the past. 

Continue Reading FCC Media Bureau Approves Nexstar’s Acquisition of TEGNA – What Does It Mean for Consideration of the Broadcast Ownership Rules? 
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  • The Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing titled “We Interrupt This Program: Media Ownership in the Digital Age.”  Testimony at
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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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