Report: NAB to Sue FCC Over Ownership Rules

RADIO ONLINE | Monday, November 7, 2016

The National Association of Broadcasters plans to file suit against the FCC over its quadrennial media ownership regulatory review, reports Broadcasting & Cable. The official filing is expected within a week. "Broadcasters want to compete in the digital age and continue being a trusted source for local news and information, but FCC rules need to reflect 2016 and not the 1960s," said NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton.

Wharton added, "It defies belief that the FCC allows AT&T DirecTV and Charter Time Warner mergers while barring two Topeka TV stations from combining, or a radio station from buying a newspaper."

Last week, NAB Senior Deputy General Counsel Jerianne Timmerman wrote in a blog post that the FCC's 2014 Quadrennial Review of media ownership regulations had left the industry's ownership rules "stuck in 1975" and the FCC doing its imitation of an ostrich with its head in the sand.