The FCC, ahead of the Juneteenth national holiday which took place on Thursday 19th June in the United States, has initiated an effort that could eliminate the 39% national TV owner reach limitation established by the Commission more than two decades ago.
Specifically, the FCC plans to “refresh the record” on the national cap for broadcast TV ownership, a move that the Carr Commission is now able to do thanks to the imminent arrival of Olivia Trusty as the second and all-important Republican giving the agency a quorum.
With “Re: Delete, Delete, Delete” an initiative already establishing Carr as a reform agent, the Commission is now poised to do away with its national ownership cap, which dates to 2004. Officially, the national TV multiple ownership rule proceeding is MB Docket No. 17-318. Comments are due 25 days after a Public Notice shared early Wednesday evening (6/18) appears in the Federal Register; reply comments are due 45 days after such publication.
In the commentary, the FCC notes, “The prior comment and reply comment period in this proceeding closed over seven years ago. Given the passage of time, we now seek further comment to refresh the record in this proceeding.”
MB Docket No. 17-318 was met with pleasure by NAB Chairman/CEO Curtis LeGeyt, who thanked Carr “for taking this important step towards modernizing a decades old rule that limits television broadcasters’ ability to compete in today’s media marketplace.”
LeGeyt added that the NAB appreciates Carr’s “willingness to tackle this critical issue, which will allow us to better serve our communities with trusted news and information. We look forward to working together to bring outdated ownership rules into the 21st century and give local stations a fair chance to compete with Big Tech.”
For the NAB, the 39% cap runs counter to “unregulated Big Tech platforms that reach 100% of Americans without restriction.” Thus, it says, “These outdated rules ignore the vast and growing competition local broadcasters face for audience, programming, talent and advertising revenue.”
