FCC Should Reject Terrier Amendments, say UCC, Common Cause

The FCC should reject Terrier Media’s amendments to its proposed deals with Cox and Northwest Broadcasting, said Common Cause and the United Church of Christ, Office of Communication in a joint ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 19-98 (see 1910310072). Terrier’s amendment “violates the goals” of the media ownership rules restored by a recent 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, “using technicalities to circumvent compliance with those rules,” the filing said. The amendments, which would reduce the circulation of a newspaper involved in the deal and turn in the license of some TV stations, would take advantage of “the FCC’s own failure to update its rules,” the filing said. The newspaper broadcast cross-ownership rule’s singling out of daily newspaper circulation as an ownership benchmark and lack of mention of digital distribution show the rule’s definitions “no longer make sense in today’s media marketplace,” the filing said. The FCC’s “failure to meaningfully update the NBCO Rule does not mean it should permit the Applicants to exploit this loophole,” the filing said. “The Commission already turned a blind eye to the Court’s ruling when it granted a prior transaction even though it contained media ownership rule violations,” the filing said, referencing the approval of a Gray TV transaction in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. “This is part of a troubling pattern,” the filing said.