NAB, News Media Alliance Appeal Cross-Ownership Rule

NAB and the News Media Alliance appealed the FCC’s 2014 quadrennial review and accompanying media ownership rules in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, according to an NMA news release and court filings. “It makes no sense at all to prevent newspapers from helping to fund this essential activity by receiving capital and collaboration by an aligned industry such as broadcasting,” said NMA President David Chavern in the release. The orders violate the Administrative Procedure Act and the Communications Act, since the FCC retained rules against newspaper/broadcast cross ownership “with only minimal change” despite “substantial" evidence that the rule no longer serves the public interest, said the NMA appeal (see 1608250063). NAB also filed its own appeal of the quadrennial review in the D.C. Circuit Monday, as expected (see 1611090061). Like NMA, NAB also challenged the FCC's action as a violation of the APA and agency discretion. "The broadcast ownership rules are relics of a long-gone era," NAB said in its appeal. "Many have not been updated in several decades, despite dramatic evolution in the communications landscape that has eroded the rules' original public-interest justifications and fundamentally altered the nature of competition." Prometheus Radio Project filed an appeal in the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Though NAB and NMA filed in time to be part of an expected lottery to determine where the case should be heard, both associations said they wouldn’t object if the case is transferred to the 3rd Circuit, as many expect it to be. The FCC didn't comment.