Supreme Court Says FCC Can Relax Media Ownership Rules

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a move by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) to relax media ownership rules, handing down a unanimous ruling that favors large broadcaster, reports The Hill.

Today the highest court ruled 9-0 that the FCC was within its rights to modify those rules, reversing the decision by the Third Circuit Court, which both the FCC and NAB has accused of interfering in the process for years.

The decision dealt a blow to challengers who argued that laxer regulations could usher in more media consolidation at the expense of minority and female media ownership.

The justices found the FCC had acted reasonably in its 2017 regulatory rollback, which included scrapping a rule that had barred a single company from owning a radio or TV station along with a newspaper in a single local market.

“The FCC considered the record evidence on competition, localism, viewpoint diversity, and minority and female ownership, and reasonably concluded that the three ownership rules no longer serve the public interest,” wrote Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

The court found that although the FCC moved forward with its rule change despite incomplete data on the potential impact to minority and female ownership, the commission's analysis passed legal muster.

“The ruling reaffirms that agencies have quite a bit of discretion and flexibility in crafting their regulations,” said Steven Schwinn, a law professor at the University of Illinois Chicago.

In response to the Supreme Court ruling in favor of an appeal by the FCC and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) to a lower court ruling blocking changes to broadcast media ownership regulations, the following statement can be attributed to NAB President and CEO Gordon Smith:

“NAB commends today’s unanimous decision by the Supreme Court that the FCC’s recent and long-overdue modernization of its broadcast ownership regulations was lawful and appropriate. It is critical that the Commission continue to examine its media ownership rules to ensure that America’s broadcasters are able to compete and meet the needs of local communities across the nation in today’s media landscape. We look forward to working with the Commission on this effort given the essential role radio and television broadcasters play for all Americans."

Prometheus Radio Project, a collection of low-power radio stations was fighting the FCC’s plans to modernize the rules. They’ve been arguing that The FCC’s changes would adversely impact female and minority ownership. Both the NAB and DOJ’s Deputy Solicitor General Malcolm Stewart argued that there’s no evidence that would be the case, and, that doesn’t even need to be considered when the rules are modernized.