GOP: FCC Rules Hamper Broadcast Ability To Compete

The House Communications Subcommittee Republican majority is clearly looking to deregulate broadcasters they see as competitively disadvantaged on the regulatory front.

That is according to a copy of the majority staff memo for the hearing on "Media Ownership in the 21st Century." "As broadcasters -- and newspapers -- face increasing competition for Americans’ attention, additional regulatory flexibility will permit them to increase efficiencies and compete against unregulated competitors," said the majority staff in the memo.

Among the topics of conversation will be the Federal Communications Commission's continued newspaper/broadcast crossownership ban. Among the ownership rules the memo suggests are on the table for discussion at the June 11 hearing are, in addition to the newspaper/broadcast crossownership ban: Local TV ownership limits (the duopoly rule); local radio ownership limits; the national cap (39%) on one TV station group’s percentage of households; diversity issues radio/TV crossownership rules, prohibitions on owning more than one broadcast network.

Some Republicans joined broadcasters in their unhappiness with FCC decisions to make most TV station joint sales agreements (JSAs, those over 15% of weekly ad sales) attributable as ownership interest, and the Media Bureau's guidance on how it will view sharing agreements with associated financial arrangements.