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FCC Ownership Limits face Court Battle

exdjted

exdjted

From Inside Radio:

www.insideradio.com

Radio And TV Industries Unite In Multi-Court Appeal To FCC Ownership Decision.

The broadcast industry has launched a multi-court appeal of a move by the FCC to largely hold the line on media ownership rules with a December decision in the 2018
www.insideradio.com www.insideradio.com

Just tell me where to send my check and file my amicus brief.

And before you start bashing me, yes, this is the hill I will die on. Before I draw my last breath, I want to see the FCC dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century and be dismantled and replaced by a slate of Commissioners who have actually WORKED in a Radio or TV station and aren't political hacks pushing 70 year old outdated agendas.
 
This shouldn't be an appeal. It should be another lawsuit. The fact that Congress mandated ownership limits to be reviewed 25 years ago, and the FCC has reviewed them grudgingly, and when they actually did it held radio to those same limited imposed 25 years ago is all you need to know. They aren't doing the job the law intended. And then they claim the prompt processing of licenses is somehow an incentive. There is no other government agency that would be allowed to operate this way. Instead of wasting time with fake impeachments, the house should call the FCC commissioners in to explain why they haven't been following the law as written.
 
exdjted said:
And before you start bashing me, yes, this is the hill I will die on. Before I draw my last breath, I want to see the FCC dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century and be dismantled and replaced by a slate of Commissioners who have actually WORKED in a Radio or TV station and aren't political hacks pushing 70 year old outdated agendas.
Click to expand...

While I'm not a fan of the NAB's proposal to remove local ownership caps altogether in markets under 100 (or whatever variation it ultimately submitted), I have come to the realization that some cap relief is likely needed in smaller markets to keep the stations there viable. Between fewer local advertisers, lower usage of radio, and increased competition from digital sources, something has to give. Giving the smaller unprofitable clusters a graceful way out or continuing to let them duke it out until a handful of stations go dark would seem to be the only options. The first option seems better than the latter one to me.
 
Will_H_69_9 said:
is this how we end up with a entire company only an entire radio or TV market.
Click to expand...
But think of how, for most of the Post-WW II years many markets had one newspaper. And those that had more than one in the 50's and 60's almost all were left with just a single paper by the 70's.

If one operator owns the three or four stations in a smaller market, this is sort of like one newspaper having a business section, a sports section and so on.

It was not until I already owned 8 stations in my first market that I thought I could afford to take the risks and afford the costs of a talk based station with large news blocks.
 
DavidEduardo said:
But think of how, for most of the Post-WW II years many markets had one newspaper. And those that had more than one in the 50's and 60's almost all were left with just a single paper by the 70's.
Click to expand...
That was enabled by an act of Congress. The Newspaper Preservation Act, signed by President Nixon. It basically created a carve-out exempting newspapers from anti-monopoly laws.

No such provision exists for broadcasters, so even if the FCC eliminated all ownership rules, the FTC would still be able to enforce some limitations.
 
PTBoardOp93 said:
That was enabled by an act of Congress. The Newspaper Preservation Act, signed by President Nixon. It basically created a carve-out exempting newspapers from anti-monopoly laws.
Click to expand...
But by the time Nixon signed that, most markets were unable to sustain more than one morning paper; afternoon journals had all but disappeared on their own by then.

My step-brother was the publisher of one of the survivors and he said that all that the act of congress did was keep those papers that endured from having ongoing legal issues.
 
NoWayNoCC said:
What they really need to do is restore the old limits that existed before 1996.
Click to expand...
You mean when half of all U. radio stations were not profitable?
 
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