FCC Commissioner McDowell: Broadcasters Weighted Down With Legacy Regulations

In a speech to the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, Federal Communications Commission member Robert McDowell said that so long as broadcasters are weighed down by the newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership ban and other legacy 20th century regulations, investment will flow primarily to less regulated new media.

Commissioner McDowell told his audience that it was time to "largely -- if not completely -- eliminate the newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership ban." While he has argued that an increasingly competitive marketplace suggests the presumption should be that the rule go away. He also pointed out that the record is still open -- the FCC has not completed studies on the impact of its rules on diversity. "It might be possible to have a presumption that the rules should go away, but if someone wants to file evidence that would harm a diversity of voices in a market, we would consider it."