Appeals Court Says No To Ownership Review

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit won't review a three-judge panel decision throwing out much of the FCC's broadcast ownership deregulation order according to a court document obtained by B&C.

The full court did not explain why it would not review the decision, but en banc rehearings are not routine.

The National Association of Broadcasters had joined with the FCC in seeking the full court hearing.

In September, the court panel ruled on an appeal by Prometheus et al. of the FCC's fall 2017 decision under chairman Ajit Pai to eliminate the newspaper-broadcast and the radio-TV cross-ownership rules; allow dual station ownership in markets with fewer than eight independent voices after that duopoly created an opportunity for ownership of two of the top four stations in a market on a case-by-case basis (the FCC was not calling it a waiver); eliminate attribution of joint sales agreements as ownership; create a diversity incubator program; and create some diversity mechanisms to address the court's long-standing concern.

The court vacated most of the order, while remanding a couple of elements back to the FCC for more work.