The FCC, television cap, and you

In a split vote earlier this month, the Federal Communications Commission put an end to the limits it will enforce on a single company’s ownership of television stations nationwide. Commissioner Anna Gomez opposed the chairman’s move, since it was Congress who imposed ownership caps with Congressional legislation.

FCC Chairman Carr sought the agency’s vote after a court blocked the NexStar-Tegna merger for violating anti-trust laws. Years of consolidation now has one media company actually bumping up against the ownership cap, yet Carr argues that he’s helping local media owners get big enough to fight the big media owners in Hollywood and New York City.

The decision is expected to draw a constitutional challenge. But until that happens, and it receives a judicial stay, the ownership cap is gone (once the rule is published) and that could get the NexStar-Tenga merger through. Perhaps that is the chairman’s plan.

This change in enforcement may seem limited to television. But some media watchers aren’t so sure. They point to similar patterns in the agency’s lax enforcement of local ownership caps and in radio when owners use the “public interest” argument.

In the past, companies seeking approval of their broadcast licenses have argued that their concentrated ownership serves the public interest, even when it goes beyond a local cap. And, the FCC staff has approved such applications without bringing the matter to the commission for a vote—the public-interest argument has been that easy to make.

Analysts caution that if media ownership becomes open to politicization, the FCC’s clear standards—which have fostered an environment that helps businesses make informed decisions—are simply gone.

In other words, this shift could signal what’s next with license renewals. Community radio stations, including LPFMs, may be required to demonstrate how they have met the public interest to an agency increasingly willing to follow the current administration’s whims. It’s a fair question to ask how the current FCC will review, analyze, and approve the public interest standard for community radio in the coming days.

Communications Act of 1934, Sect. 326.

Nothing in this Act shall be understood or construed to give the Commission the power of censorship over the radio communications or signals transmitted by any radio station, and no regulation or condition shall be promulgated or fixed by the Commission which shall interfere with the right of free speech by means of radio communication.