As Expected, FCC Makes No Changes To Ownership Rules

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday released a long-delayed update of its media-ownership rules with few substantive changes, prompting renewed criticism from broadcasters and others, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Notably, the new rules generally leave in place the longstanding newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership prohibition, which dates from the mid-1970s and bars a single individual or company from possessing a daily newspaper and a radio or TV station in the same market. Other rules left in place create high barriers for ownership of more than one local TV station.

Broadcasters on Thursday fired off a letter to the FCC in response, suggesting they would continue to pursue legal challenges to the rules, which make consolidation in many markets difficult.

The National Association of Broadcasters said the FCC “failed to conduct the rigorous media ownership review mandated by Congress,” and termed its decision to maintain the existing broadcast-ownership restrictions “arbitrary and capricious and…contrary to law.”

The FCC had been under growing pressure from federal courts to finish the latest update, which is required by law every four years. Until this month, the last one the FCC had completed was the 2006 cycle.

A three-judge panel of the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, in a case brought by broadcasters, in May threatened to toss out the rules altogether if the FCC didn’t get its effort on track.

Experts say the agency’s update has been hampered by a number of factors, including the tough political infighting involved in making any substantial changes to the media-ownership rules.

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