Led by President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt, the NAB met with Anna Gomez and her staff this week. The association also recently met with FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty as well to support the commission’s proposal to remove the TV caps.
Following FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s announcement of an Aug. 6 vote on that proposal, Gomez, the lone Democrat commissioner, issued a sharp statement. “This unlawful effort to hand control of the public airwaves to billionaire buddies of this administration will destroy local newsrooms, silence community reporting and drive-up costs for the American families who depend on local stations for news and emergency alerts,” she said. She added that Congress set the 39% national cap in federal law and that the commission lacks authority to waive it.
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| Anna Gomez |
While no formal proceeding exists to lift the caps, radio groups have intensified lobbying as part of the FCC’s quadrennial review.
NAB wants the restrictions eliminated. “Local radio broadcasters cannot survive in today’s digital audio and advertising markets while hamstrung by three decades-old restrictions on their scale,” the association wrote. It cited data showing big tech and digital platforms dominating local ad markets at radio’s expense. Owning more local outlets would allow more diverse programming, including niche formats, boosting listenership and ad revenue, NAB argued.
Critics of relaxing the caps point to the Telecommunications Act of 1996 as a factor in radio’s declining local ad revenues. NAB countered that localism is costly and that radio’s economic viability is now in serious question, requiring regulatory relief immediately.