A coalition of nonprofit groups and labor unions filed an emergency petition Friday seeking to block the Federal Communications Commission’s recent repeal of a decades-old rule that limited consolidation among television stations, a move that would allow media conglomerates to take even more control of local news channels.
The petition states that the Republican-controlled FCC’s decision – pushed by Chairman Brendan Carr and approved in August by a 2-1 vote along party lines – was “clearly contrary to law and violates fundamental principles of administrative law.” The filing says Congress passed a rule prohibiting any television broadcaster from reaching more than 39 percent of American households — and only Congress can overturn it.
“The FCC cannot simply ignore laws passed by Congress just because the current head of the agency wants to,” said Matt Wood, vice president of policy at Free Press, one of the groups that joined the new motion. “Chairman Carr only serves (President) Donald Trump, not the people of this country. Carr threatens broadcasters when their coverage angers the administration, but throws them bones like this repeal when the biggest broadcast conglomerates fall into line.”
The petition was submitted days after the FCC released the final text of its order repealing the nation’s television multiple ownership rule, which Carr’s FCC effectively ignored earlier this year when it approved Nexstar’s $6.2 billion acquisition of rival television company Tegna — a deal Trump vocally supported. Free Press noted that the merger “would give Nexstar access to 80 percent of U.S. homes on the nation’s broadcast airwaves.”
Clayton Weimers, executive director of Reporters Without Borders North America, said Friday that repealing the 39 percent cap “eliminates the only significant limit on the consolidation of television ownership in the United States, reducing media pluralism, eliminating choices for news consumers and threatening jobs in an industry already reeling from widespread layoffs and shutdowns.”
“If allowed to move forward, this policy will benefit a small handful of powerful media conglomerate owners, while harming journalists, local and independent television stations and, most importantly, the American people,” Weimers said.
Cable industry groups are also taking action against the FCC over its decision to repeal TV ownership constraints. Ars Technica reported earlier this month that “cable lobbying groups have informed the Federal Communications Commission that they will sue the agency to block its controversial repeal of the National Television Ownership Rule.”
The industry filing says the FCC repeal “arbitrarily and capriciously ignores the harms that will surely result from allowing broadcast station groups to exceed the national cap, in the form of increased retransmission consent fees for distributors of multichannel video programming…and higher monthly television bills for consumers.” »
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