Free Press Wants Fox NBCO Waiver Request Indefinitely Shelved

Delay consideration indefinitely of Fox’s request for permanent waiver of the newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rule (see 2011160037), Free Press asked the FCC in a request for extension of time posted in docket 20-378 Monday. The request's timing and the opening of the proceeding are inappropriate, said Free Press. “However cloudy Fox and friends may fear their future is under a new administration, there’s no reason to steam ahead on insufficient notice in the wake of an election and the week of Thanksgiving, all while the rules in play are still in court.” The late Friday issuance of the public notice on the matter and a commenting deadline the day after Thanksgiving “appear designed to tip the scale heavily against public participation and in Fox’s favor,” Free Press said. The proceeding occurring during a presidential lame-duck period and after Congress asked the FCC to refrain from controversial actions is also significant, Free Press said. “No matter the current president’s apparent unwillingness to accept reality, a transition is underway,” Free Press said. “With it will come a change in the Commission’s majority and in its chair, at whose direction the Bureau initiated this proceeding so conveniently timed for Fox but no one else.”