A Change in the FCC's Broadcast Foreign Ownership Rules In the Near Future?

Two weeks ago, comments were filed in the Federal Communications Commission’s proceeding examining whether to adopt a more relaxed view of the foreign ownership provisions of the Communications Act.

While the Communications Act limits foreign ownership in communications licensees to 20% (or 25% of a licensee holding company), the Act also allows the FCC to allow greater foreign ownership if it would not adversely affect the public interest. In areas other than broadcasting, the FCC has routinely allowed ownership of more than 25% of a communications licensee, but the limit has been strictly enforced in the broadcasting world. Many of the comments filed in response to the FCC’s request made exactly that point - that in a multimedia world, why should a wireless company or a cable programmer be allowed to be foreign owned, while a competing broadcaster can't have foreign investors holding more than 25% of its equity? In what is perhaps a telling indication of where the FCC is going, the statements of three FCC Commissioners, in connection with a recent FCC decision to further streamline the approval process for alien ownership in excess of the 25% limitations in FCC-regulated areas other than broadcasting, suggested that the relaxation of the limits should also be extended to broadcasting.