Media Ownership NPRM: What Hath Quad Wrought?

Three days before Christmas, the Federal Communications Commission delivered a little present for broadcasters: a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) proposing changes to its media ownership rules. The NPRM followed up on a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) issued 18 months ago. While some might be thrilled with this gift, for most it’s probably more like a lump of coal.

The FCC proposes to:

1. retain, for the most part, the existing media ownership rules, including the local radio ownership rules, the dual network rule, and the local television ownership rule (with minor modification);
2. toss the existing blanket ban on newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership (NBCO), replacing it with a modified version that would allow some cross-ownership in the largest markets; and
3. repeal the radio/television cross-ownership rule entirely.

In ominous news for some broadcasters, the FCC requests comment on whether it should treat shared services and news sharing agreements as attributable interests, although it stops short of proposing rules to that effect. This is an extraordinarily wide-ranging proceeding. While the Commission’s particular proposals appear to involve little if any substantial change from the status quo, let’s not forget the extraordinary litany of questions on which the Commission has sought comments. Having at least posed those questions in the NPRM, the Commission could follow up with comprehensive and dramatic rule changes veering far afield of the seemingly benign “proposals” described in the NPRM. Attention should be paid.