8th-Floor Support for Eliminating Newspaper Cross-Ownership Collapses

Support on the eighth floor for a compromise media ownership order that would have eliminated newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership (NBCO) rules has collapsed, and a draft order that keeps the provision in place is seen as nearly certain to be approved 3-2, FCC officials told us Monday. The alternative draft order to eliminate NBCO was seen as having support from Chairman Tom Wheeler and Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel (see 1607290063). Their support was conditioned on the item also being backed by Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, current and former FCC officials told us.

Clyburn won’t support the item, and though it could still be approved if a Republican commissioner voted for it, Wheeler's office won’t back that version of the media ownership rules without unanimous support from the FCC Democrats, the current and former officials said. Commissioners Ajit Pai and Mike O’Rielly are seen as supporting elimination of the NBCO rules, industry officials said. Clyburn's office and the FCC didn't comment.

A version of the draft order that keeps the NBCO rules in place was approved by all three Democratic commissioners (see 1607120078). Though a must-vote deadline on the item is up this week, the final order isn't expected to be issued until next week, FCC officials told us. Despite the time remaining, FCC officials said they don’t expect the proposal to eliminate NBCO to resurface. A draft item on eliminating the UHF discount has also been voted, and could also come out next week, an FCC official told us.

According to an FCC-issued fact sheet, the media ownership draft item that's likely to be approved will keep most broadcast ownership rules in place and reinstate the joint service agreement rules that were knocked down by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (see 1607210055). Though it keeps NBCO in place, it institutes a waiver process to allow the commission to grant waivers on a case-by-case basis, the fact sheet said.

NAB and the Newspaper Association of America lobbied the commission to eliminate the rules, which were singled out for criticism in a recent 3rd Circuit opinion. NAB has sent the commission a near-constant stream of news clippings about the failing newspaper industry for a month, according to ex parte filings. Public interest groups such as United Church of Christ and the Georgetown Law Institute for Public Representation strongly opposed eliminating the NBCO rules (see 1607260054), saying it would lead to fewer independent news voices.