Public Interest Groups Tell Congress: Keep Close Eye On FCC Media Review

[SOURCE: Technology Daily, AUTHOR: David Hatch]
The FCC early next year plans to conduct a court-ordered review of its rules that limit media ownership -- and public interest groups are seeking strong congressional oversight of the effort. "This is going to be a big fight," said Andrew Schwartzman, president and chief executive officer of the Media Access Project. "Congress and the public are going to have to weigh in as heavily as they did [in 2003] to make a difference in an FCC that is going to be dominated by three Republicans." A key priority of the Media Access Project and other watchdogs is changing the so-called UHF discount. The discount tabulates UHF television stations -- channels 14 to 67 -- as being half the size of VHF stations -- channels 2 to 13 -- when calculating the national cap on the audience reach of network owned-and-operated TV stations. "This is archaic," Schwartzman said of the UHF discount -- noting that UHF stations once were difficult to receive via broadcast, but that cable has put them on a par with VHF. "This 50 percent discount allows vastly greater ownership than would otherwise be the case," he said. In particular, he noted that the UHF discount benefits Paxson Communications and the Sinclair Broadcast Group. Schwartzman said changing the UHF discount is important because UHF stations are less expensive to own than VHF ones, creating more opportunities for minorities.
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