Chairman Pai Speech at National Association of Broadcasters

[Speech] You either believe broadcasters should be allowed to innovate, or you don’t. And we do. So last November, the Federal Communications Commission adopted rules authorizing the Next Gen TV transmission standard. By allowing use of this standard on a voluntary, market-driven basis, we’ve opened the door to a substantially improved, free, over-the-air television broadcast service and fiercer competition in the video marketplace.

You either believe in rules that match the modern marketplace, or you don’t. And we do. So [in 2017], we also approved a long-overdue update to our media ownership rules. One of them was ending the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership ban—a ban that was adopted in 1975. With the proliferation of online news sources, cable TV, and more, the idea that a company could dominate a media market by owning a broadcast station and a newspaper is utter nonsense.

You either believe in extending broadcast service to more communities, or you don’t. And we do. That’s why we scrapped the “main studio” rule, which predated World War II. The rule’s purpose was to allow community input and public access to the station’s inspection file. But these days, people contact broadcasters through the Internet or over the phone, and the public file is now online. Ending this rule gives broadcasters greater flexibility without sacrificing transparency or community engagement. And it’s already making it easier for broadcasters to add new service or maintain existing service in rural communities.

You either believe in scrapping outdated regulations or you don’t. And we do. We’ve already launched eight separate rulemakings as a result of this effort, and we’ll start more in the coming months. In particular, Commissioner O’Rielly is now leading an effort to update our children’s television rules so that they better reflect the way that kids watch video these days, and I look forward to getting his recommendations.