FCC Radio Ownership Rules

[e-dawg]

Hi, Can someone tell me what is the current FCC ownership rules of how many radio stations can one company or corporation can own? I heard it's 6,7, or 8? Can someone tell me exactly how many AM/FM. Also does it depends on the market size?

 

[TheBigA]

It depends on market size, the number of stations in the market, and how you define that market.

 

[TheBigA]

From www.fcc.gov:

As a general rule, one entity may own (a) up to five commercial radio stations, not more than three of which are in the same service (i.e., AM or FM), in a market with 14 or fewer radio stations; (b) up to six commercial radio stations, not more than four of which are in the same service, in a market with between 15 and 29 radio stations; (c) up to seven commercial radio stations, not more than four of which are in the same service, in a radio market with between 30 and 44 radio stations; and (d) up to eight commercial radio stations, not more than five of which are in the same service, in a radio market with 45 or more radio stations.

 

[bossbill]

Arbitron-rated markets are now calculated differently, while unrated markets are based on signal overlap to calculate the number of stations in the market, and due to transmitter site differences, it is possible for different group owners to have different limits in the same market.

In our unrated market, my market definition is 15+ stations, while for my local competitor the number is 14. So I can have 4 FMs, which I have, but my competitor can only own 3.