Home Login RADIO ONLINE RSS Facebook
Find Radio Online
AM FM HD

Advertisement

NAB: FCC's Fails to Justify Media Ownership Order


In a letter filed with the FCC, NAB is accusing the Commission of taking a purposeful "head in the sand" approach to its required quadrennial examination of the media ownership rules. The letter follows a freedom of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by the trade group seeking materials considered by the FCC during the proceeding. The NAB wrote that the resulting collection of thirteen documents received on August 16 was "underwhelming."

NAB wrote, "as the Third Circuit Court of Appeals noted earlier this summer, the broadcast ownership rules 'lay the groundwork for how the broadcast industry operates and have major implications for television, radio and newspaper organizations.' Yet even incorporating the few documents the Commission excluded for licensing reasons -- the attached set of documents demonstrates that the Commission's decision to maintain and even tighten broadcast ownership restrictions has been driven by reasons that have nothing to do with a serious examination of data."

With the exception of the Knight Foundation study on increasing consumption of news on mobile phones -- which actually supports broadcasters' arguments that they are no longer gatekeepers to information -- NAB proclaimed that the records are "devoid of useful data. There is zero examination, for example, of the decline of the print newspaper industry; no record about how the Internet has helped democratize the flow of information; and nothing else that suggests the Commission performed the kind of rigorous inquiry that Congress mandated."

Instead, NAB says, the records include information that was already publicly available, including several that can best be described as "odds and ends." They contain, for example, the entire Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016 (which, among other things, blocked the Commission's retroactive ban on joint sales agreements), two documents that serve only to prove the existence of the CW Television Network, publicly-available correspondence between several senators and FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, and, perhaps most peculiar of all, the Commission's "informal timeline" for consideration of merger applications-even as the rules continue to prohibit mergers.

"While the Commission will no doubt argue that the existing record provided enough information on which to base its decision to maintain its analog-era rules, these records expose a particularly lackluster and ultimately arbitrary and capricious effort by the FCC to seek out and consider other information that would show unequivocally how marketplace changes have nullified the need for the rules, at least in their current form," NAB wrote.

The letter concluded, "Ultimately, these records provide further evidence that the Commission's decision to maintain the existing broadcast ownership restrictions, including the wildly outdated printed newspaper crossownership ban, is arbitrary and capricious, and continues to be contrary to law."

Advertisement

Latest Radio Stories

AWMF Unveils 49th Annual Gracie Awards Winners
Gracies
Gracies
The Alliance for Women in Media Foundation (AWMF) has announced winners of the 49th Annual Gracie Awards. The Gracies celebrate outstanding achievements in media dedicated to women, by women, and about women across diverse platforms in news and More

Study: Core Commercial Radio Fans Weigh in on AI
Jacobs Media
Jacobs Media
The big story in broadcast radio and all of media is the impact of Artificial Intelligence. In the past year, much has been said and written about how radio broadcasters -- from management to talent -- feel about this burgeoning technology. But now More

Listening to Podcasts and Online Audio Hit New Highs
The Infinite Dial
The Infinite Dial
The portion of Americans who listen to any kind of online audio, and the portion who listen to podcasts, have both reached new record highs, according to The Infinite Dial an annual survey from Edison Research with support from Audacy, Cumulus Media More
Advertisement

iHM Announces Partnership Extension with D.C. United
D.C. United
D.C. United
iHeartMedia/Washington, DC inks an extension to its partnership agreement with D.C. United to deliver local radio broadcast for all of the club's 2024 Major League Soccer regular season matches, effective through the end of the 2024 season. As part More

CMN Promotes Robert Blum, Tyler Brewer & Chris Kleiber
Compass Media Networks
Compass Media Networks
Compass Media Networks promotes three-long-standing executives, Robert Blum, Tyler Brewer and Chris Kleiber, who will collectively oversee the content creation, production and distribution of the company's play-by-play sports platform. The More

Matt Pinfield Joins The SoCal Sound for Afternoons
Matt Pinfield
Matt Pinfield
Veteran air talent and television host Matt Pinfield is joining KCSN-FM (88.5 FM The SoCal Sound) in Los Angeles as AAA outlet's new afternoon host from 2-6pm. The music personality fills the spot left open by Andy Chanley, who announced earlier More

Return to Menu

Advertisement

Subscribe to our Newsletter
Radio news and headlines delivered right to your e-mail box -- and it's free.

Quick Snaps
Benztown: Benztown was at Radiodays Europe 2024, which was held in Munich on March 17-19th. Benztown hosted a well-attended party for customers and partners during Radiodays Europe 2024 on Monday, March 18. Pictured is a traditional Volksmusik band performed for Benztown party attendees at Munich's Augustiner-Keller restaurant. In front in black shirt raising a glass is Oliver Klenk, Head of Production & Composition, and to his right, also in black shirt, is Stephan Halfpap, General Manager, Maxmedia, Austria.

Advertisement

Advertisement