FCC Media Bureau Denies Complaint Against Raycom in Honolulu, But Says Combo Violates 'Intent' of Rules

The Federal Communications Commission’s Media Bureau has rejected Media Council Hawaii's (MCH) challenge to Raycom's combination of a duopoly and shared services agreement involving three stations in Honolulu, but it also signaled it agreed with MCH that the station combination violated the intent of FCC rules.

The bureau said it could take that into account at license renewal time and pointed out that the FCC was planning to look at shared services agreements in its quadrennial media ownership review. The bureau also fined Raycom $10,000 for not making its public inspection file available for public inspection on a timely basis.

"Media Council Hawaii is very disappointed with the Bureau's decision and will likely seek review by the full Commission," said Angela Campbell, counsel for the group. "The Bureau's failure to enforce the ownership limits here will been seen as a "green light" for others to evade the TV duopoly rule by entering into similar sharing arrangements. The commitment to address the issue of shared services in the 2010 quadrennial review, while welcome, is likely to come too late to prevent the significant loss of diversity and competition from these shared service agreements.