Stakeholders Prepare To Scrutinize FCC Media Ownership Rules

NAB intends to press for an overhaul of broadcast ownership rules and insist that the video market is more competitive than ever, during a Friday House Communications Subcommittee hearing on media ownership. Groups opposed to media consolidation will press for more diversity in the industry. The hearing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.

“The public interest is best served by broadcast ownership rules that permit radio and television stations to compete effectively in the broader media landscape to the benefit of both advertisers and consumers,” Covington & Burling partner Gerry Waldron, representing NAB, will testify. “The FCC began its last media ownership proceeding in 2009, but nothing has come of it. Yet, in that time, the Commission has managed to work heavily on 5 measures that benefit the cable industry, while the broadcast ownership rules have not been adapted to account for today’s competitive realities.” Waldron will specifically slam the cross-ownership rules and TV duopoly rule. “We are asking Congress for help to hold the FCC accountable for completing its review of the rules, and making the necessary changes to the benefit of both communities and consumers across the country,” he will say.

The Newspaper Association of America supports ending the cross-ownership ban, Senior Vice President-Public Policy Paul Boyle intends to tell the subcommittee. “The federal government should not prohibit a company from investing in newspapers just because they also have broadcast interests -- especially when broadcast companies may share the same core journalistic values as newspapers,” Boyle will argue. “Indeed, such investments have been shown to improve journalism. Nor does the cross-ownership ban help promote diversity in the industry, which is better addressed through specific and tailored efforts that NAA supports.” The ban is “actively stifling much needed investment in newspapers,” he will insist.

"It is important to the marketplace, and ultimately consumers, that the Commission update​ and relax the ownership rules to reflect the media landscape as it exists today," Digital Content Next CEO Jason Kint will testify before the subcommittee. "I fear that expansion of outdated regulations to the online environment could stunt the growth of online content in a way that will prove detrimental to the consumer experience."

Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council President Kim Keenan will testify that the FCC hasn’t been “proactive in advancing minority broadcast ownership” and urge several steps to remedy that. “The FCC has an immediate opportunity to foster minority media ownership through its broader effort to revitalize AM radio,” Keenan will say, according to written testimony. “Pending before the FCC is the proposal to create an AM-only window to allow AM stations to apply for FM translators as part of this proceeding.” She plans to laud what the FCC has done in regard to joint sales and shared services agreements, hoping the actions “will lead to new, legitimate opportunities for minority broadcast station ownership.”

Industry consolidation, “too often” backed by the FCC, has "eroded the quality and quantity of local communications media, to the detriment of our electorate,” Common Cause Media and Democracy Reform Initiative Program Director Todd O’Boyle plans to testify. He will tie the amount of consolidation to the state of quality journalism, suggesting that more consolidation hurts reporting efforts. The FCC “regularly looked the other way as media monopolists found and exploited loopholes to effect ‘covert consolidation’ through Shared Services and joint sales agreements,” O’Boyle will also say. “The consequences have been staggering. Diverse and female ownership took a nose dive -- is it any surprise that minorities and women still struggle with backwards caricature portrayals in the media when they control so little of it? Clearly ownership matters.”

Common Cause also intends to blast the bicameral and bipartisan legislation that would grandfather in the broadcaster joint sales agreements. “We call on you to halt them forthwith,” O’Boyle will recommend. Whether through stand-alone legislation or an appropriations rider, he said that “reversing the FCC’s JSA reform would be a staggering step backwards and foreclose future pro-local, pro-diversity policies.”

The FCC should “tighten its current media ownership rules to create opportunities for new entrants,” National Hispanic Media Coalition Vice President Michael Scurato will recommend in his testimony. He will praise the “FCC efforts to continue to improve its collection of ownership data and perform the analysis necessary to create proactive policies that promote diversity” and urge Congress to bring back the minority tax certificate. Scurato will say that the Internet does not match the power of broadcasting. He will warn that women and people of color are underrepresented among low-power broadcasters and radio outlets and cite “a strong possibility that many of these numbers could decline sharply following the upcoming incentive auction.” Waldron will also note that the incentive auction “is likely to lead to a sizable portion of the existing minority broadcasters going off the air” and that NAB backs the minority tax certificate program.