Cox Media Group is urging the FCC to eliminate or significantly reform its local radio ownership limits, arguing the rules no longer match today’s competitive media landscape.
CMG Radio President Rob Babin, Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel Alysia Long, and Corporate Counsel Taylor Lamb made the case in separate meetings August 11 with staff for FCC Commissioners Olivia Trusty and Anna Gomez.
The discussions form part of the Commission’s pending 2022 Quadrennial Review of its local radio ownership rules.
CMG told the FCC the existing restrictions are leftovers from a very different media marketplace. Local radio broadcasters now compete against streaming audio, podcasts, satellite radio, social media, and major digital advertising platforms that face no comparable structural ownership limits. The company said this regulatory imbalance hampers radio companies’ ability to grow audiences and attract advertising. Those pressures, CMG argued, can also undermine broadcasters’ capacity to sustain local programming, emergency coverage, and other community investments, especially as ad dollars shift toward digital platforms with potentially unlimited reach.
The broadcaster therefore called on the FCC to either eliminate or substantially overhaul the local radio ownership restrictions so stations can compete on more even terms with digital and other audio services.