Brendan Carr eliminating TV ownership caps?

[Mediafrog+]

Story is paywalled, but Bloomberg is reporting that Brendan Carr is about to announce an end to TV ownership caps:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-15/fcc-said-to-repeal-broadcast-audience-cap-in-win-for-nexstar

Should we assume this would apply to radio as well?

 

[TheBigA]

Should we assume this would apply to radio as well?

Here's another version of the story, and radio isn't in the story.

FCC Chairman Proposes Repeal Of National Ownership Cap

The commission will vote in August on whether to repeal the cap.

deadline.com

However, the FCC approved the waiver for Connoisseur in San Francisco.

According to the story, the FCC will vote in August.

 

[Mediafrog+]

Here's another version of the story, and radio isn't in the story.

FCC Chairman Proposes Repeal Of National Ownership Cap

The commission will vote in August on whether to repeal the cap.

deadline.com

However, the FCC approved the waiver for Connoisseur in San Francisco.

According to the story, the FCC will vote in August.

I just don’t see how they could dump the TV cap while leaving the radio constraints in place.

Wonder if there would be an attempt to ram new legislation through congress before the midterm elections in order to seal this into law?

 

[TheBigA]

I just don’t see how they could dump the TV cap while leaving the radio constraints in place.

The 39% coverage cap doesn't apply to radio. That's what he's eliminating.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is proposing a repeal of the national ownership cap, which restricts broadcasters from amassing stations that cover more than 39% of TV households.

Here is the rule he is seeking to eliminate:

The National TV Ownership rule does not limit the number of TV stations a single entity may own nationwide so long as the station group collectively reaches no more than 39 percent of all U.S. TV households. For the purposes of calculating the "national audience reach," TV stations on UHF channels (14 and above) count less than TV stations operating on VHF channels (13 and below), this is also known as the UHF Discount. The National TV Ownership rule is no longer subject to the FCC's quadrennial review.

 

[rx8driver2]

FCC Moves to End Cap on National Broadcast Ownership

FCC Moves to End Cap on National Broadcast Ownership

variety.com

The Federal Communications Commission signaled it will vote on August 6 to repeal the longstanding cap on ownership of TV stations, replacing a limit that keeps owners from controlling stations in more than 39% of markets with a case-by-case review of transactions that might come before regulators.

“Today, national programmers can distribute their programming to 100 percent of the country –either through their own streaming services or through deals they cut with nationwide ‘virtual cable companies,’ like YouTubeTV. The cap no longer constrains their control over distribution in this respect,” said FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr in an op-ed published by Brietbart. “Nor does the cap limit other players in today’s media market. Cable channels like MSNOW can reach 100 percent of the country. Social media sites from Bluesky to X can reach 100 percent of the country. Netflix can reach 100 percent too. Same with podcasts and all other forms of digital content.”

A decision to eliminate the cap might have immediate consequences. Nexstar, one of the largest owners of TV stations in the U.S., has been barred from completing its recent acquisition of Tegna, a smaller TV station owner, on the grounds that the transaction would give Nexstar too much control over local TV properties across the country. Nexstar also owns national outlets like the CW broadcast network and the NewsNation cable-news outlet.

 

[rx8driver2]

This isn't good. It will eventually lead to television stations going off the air and one company owning all the stations in a market. The article mentions that there will still be a transaction review, but that will stop from this happening.

It maybe a dying market, but I still don't see how it will save it.

 

[TheBigA]

Here's more detail from RadioInsight:

FCC To Vote To Remove Television Ownership Caps; No Changes To Radio Yet

Brendan Carr's FCC will begin the process of removing ownership limits by first targeting the current 39% population limit on

radioinsight.com

Lance points out the contradiction:

INSTANT INSIGHT: This states they will weaponize the FCC to use their current judgements on “localism” and “viewpoint diversity” to choose buyers friendly to their causes. In a nation with a free press, no member of the government should have any say in selecting ownership on their viewpoints. As Carr has already used his position to go after the Walt Disney Company’s licenses this something we should all be against regardless of personal political belief is if you believe in the founding principals of the United States.

Which gets back to what I've been saying: The Communications Act is unconstitutional under the current operation of the FCC. The intent of the Act was that broadcasting would be regulated by an independent agency. The FCC is no longer independent.

Carr talks about distrust in the media, but the fact is that the public has even less trust in government.

Public trust in government in the United States is at historically low levels, with only 17% of Americans saying they trust the federal government to do what is right most of the time.

Meanwhile trust in media is at 28%. The trust factor in media depends on the outlet. The trust factor in government is about this administration.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

If that’s the case that will affect the outcome of the current lawsuits related to the Paramount-WB merger and the Tegna-Nexstar merger given that there states that issued lawsuits directed at antitrust issues over those mergers.

 

[TheBigA]

Wonder if there would be an attempt to ram new legislation through congress before the midterm elections in order to seal this into law?

FCC rules are not the same as law. A new administration could come in and reverse the policy, just as it did with net neutrality.

But the real issue is the constitutionality of the communications act itself if the FCC administering it is a political agency making subjective decisions about speech based on the president's agenda, and the commissioners can be fired without cause by the president.

 

[umfan]

A new administration could come in and reverse the policy,

True, but, in this case, there already would likely have been great consolidation which the flick of a pen wouldn't undo.

I think this is the correct move considering the economics for broadcast TV.

 

[TheBigA]

True, but, in this case, there already would likely have been great consolidation which the flick of a pen wouldn't undo.

The last time the FCC tried to do something like this was under Kevin Martin in 2007. Congress came in under Trent Lott and reversed it.

Dorgan, Lott team to take on FCC big media rules

From Free Press: At a Senate Commerce Committee hearing today, Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) announced plans to introduce legislation that would halt the Federal Communications Commission’s rush to gut longstanding media ownership rules. The bipartisan “Media Ownership...

thecherrycreeknews.com

John McCain also got involved:

John McCain and the FCC media ownership fight

A battle in the Senate is forming over the FCC's media ownership rules...

arstechnica.com

McCain voted against the 1996 Telecom Act too. There was a time when repubs were opposed to big media.