JSA Rule Changes to Go on Circulation Wednesday, FCC Official Says

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s office appears poised to circulate Wednesday a proposed rule change on how joint sales agreements will be used to calculate TV station ownership, said agency officials Monday. They had said the item may be planned for a vote at the March meeting (CD Feb 12 p1), which would make Wednesday the “white-copy” deadline to circulate the item among the commissioners before it shows up on the commission’s agenda. The draft item will include a proposal to make stations that have 15 percent or more of their ad sales handled by another station attributable as being same-owned, and include a grandfathering provision similar to the one used for radio, under which stations would have two years to come into compliance with the rule, FCC officials have said. Last week, the Justice Department asked the FCC to require JSA attribution (CD Feb 24 p7).

The draft item will also include a further NPRM on media cross-ownership, said an agency official. The FNPRM tentatively concludes that the rule against newspaper/TV cross ownership continues to be necessary but seeks comment on whether a complete ban is still needed or if a case-by-case waiver process should be formalized, the official said. It also tentatively concludes that the current dual network rule and local TV rule should be retained, said the official. It seeks comment on how the FCC can fulfill the requirement of the Prometheus II court decision that it collect hard data on how cross ownership affects minorities, said the FCC official. A Media Bureau spokeswoman had no comment for this story.

FCC electronic records show a flurry of recent lobbying on the issue, and one official said the broadcast lobbying on the matter has gotten “very intense.” Numerous broadcasters have decried the plan to make sharing arrangements attributable, and they continue lobbying. (See separate report below in this issue.)

Wheeler’s office still hasn’t shared details of the proposed rule changes with the offices of Republican Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O'Rielly, said an FCC official. Both Republican commissioners have made statements indicating they would oppose the proposed rule change, industry officials have noted. The split over the proposed rule might indicate an increasing political rift at the commission, said a broadcast executive who opposes the coming proposed rules. The DOJ filing and Wheeler’s office’s apparent determination to change the rule seems to indicate White House support for the move, the executive said.

Some broadcasters think the JSA rule change is designed to increase participation in the spectrum incentive auction, said the broadcast executive. That claim doesn’t make sense because most JSAs are between stations in smaller markets, with less demand for spectrum, said Expanding Opportunities for Broadcasters Coalition Executive Director Preston Padden in a blog post (http://bit.ly/1gRKNZR) last week. However, smaller market stations could still be desirable in the auction to make sure spectrum buyers get large chunks of uninterrupted spectrum, said another broadcast executive. -- Monty Tayloe (mtayloe@warren-news.com)