Media Ownership Recon Order Circulated Wednesday, Pai Tells House Subcommittee

A media ownership reconsideration order that does away with cross-ownership rules, joint sales agreement attribution rules and the eight-voices test, and allows case-by-case waivers of the top-four network rule was circulated to the eighth floor for a vote at the Nov. 16 commissioners' meeting, Chairman Ajit Pai told the House Communications Subcommittee Wednesday. The draft of the item will be made public Thursday. Pai framed the recon order as taking steps to keep the government out of newsrooms: “If you believe as I do that the federal government has no business intervening in the news, then we must stop the federal government from intervening in the news business.” The order also would establish an incubator to encourage diversity in media ownership, and would retain disclosure rules for broadcaster shared service agreements, Pai said. Industry officials told us Wednesday they expect the recon order to be approved with a 3-2 party line vote, and that a court challenge from public interest groups is extremely likely.