FCC Officially Reinstates Several Media Ownership Rules
RADIO ONLINE | Monday, June 7, 2021 | 12:26pm CT |
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 Federal Communications Commission |
The FCC on Friday officially reinstated several of its previous decisions eliminating several media ownership controls, a move that comes in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's April decision upholding the 2017 deregulations. In what was known as the "FCC vs. Prometheus Radio Project," the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit regarding the Commission's media ownership rules.
As such, the FCC issued an order on June 4, reinstating the changes previously adopted. The Newspaper/Broadcast Cross-Ownership Rule, the Radio/Television Cross-Ownership Rule and the Television Joint Sales Agreement Attribution Rule are eliminated, and the Local Television Ownership Rule and Local Radio Ownership Rule are reinstated.
The Bureau says that notice and comment are unnecessary for these rule amendments because the ministerial order merely implements the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court. Because this Order is being adopted without notice and comment, the Regulatory Flexibility Act does not apply.