The NAB joined big media companies in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the 3rd U.S. Appeals Court, Philadelphia, ruling that blocks media companies from buying more local TV stations and newspapers. The NAB said the case raises “critically important questions” about the FCC’s disregard of congressional decisions in the Communications Act regarding radio and TV station ownership. The local radio market redefinition upheld by the appeals court also violates the Act and violates Congress’s intent to deregulate the industry, the NAB said. The Newspaper Assn. of America (NAA) also petitioned the Supreme Court to review the lower court’s decision to remand the FCC’s new cross-media ownership rules. The FCC rule changes on newspaper-broadcast cross- ownership were based on “solid evidence” that repealing the old rules would serve the public interest, said NAA Pres. John Sturm.
Notable CROSS rulings
As expected, Tribune Co., Fox, NBC Universal and Viacom formally took to the U.S. Supreme Court an appeals court ruling that blocks media companies from buying more local TV stations and newspapers. The action comes after the U.S. Solicitor Gen. and the FCC decided not to ask the high court to overturn the U.S. Appeals Court, Philadelphia, decision rejecting FCC action to ease media ownership limits (CD Jan 28 p3). Uncertainty is putting media deals on hold, said company representatives.
The federal govt. won’t join a request that the U.S. Supreme Court overturn a lower court decision rejecting FCC action to ease media ownership limits, officials confirmed. The decision by the U.S. Solicitor Gen. (SG) and the FCC not to appeal is said to make it highly unlikely that the Supreme Court will hear the case.
Chmn. Powell announced Fri. he will leave the FCC in March. With key issues pending for all communications sectors, sources agreed the next chmn. is likely to maintain Powell’s policies in the broadest sense, including an emphasis on competition and on promoting new technologies.
UNIVERSAL CITY, Cal. -- The lack of concrete FCC content rules continues to create an air of unease for PBS’s local stations, PBS CEO Pat Mitchell told TV critics here Sat. When the pubcaster sends out programs to its 170 licensees, she said, “we are sending out the version that we think complies with the guidelines as best we understand them. And the chilling effect that we're all worried about is exactly that; when they're not hard and fast and totally clear-cut, you do find yourself making decisions, second-guessing. And we do worry about that, along with our producers.”
The European Commission (EC) will propose a revamp of its seminal TV without frontiers directive later this year, Information Society & Media Comr. Viviane Reding said Tues. The directive, adopted in 1989 and amended in 1997, established the framework for the free cross-border movement of TV broadcasting services in Europe. Because audiovisual and multimedia content is the “driving force” for the success of new technologies, especially broadband, the new law should be both technologically neutral and proportionate, Reding said at the opening of the European Cable Communication Assn. conference in Brussels. The directive should create a level playing field “that will give legal certainty in a dynamic market,” she said. Reding urged member states to complete adoption of the electronic communications directives into national law. However, she said, it’s also time to think about re- examining that regulatory framework to deal with VoIP, powerline communications (broadband over power line) and other technological and market changes. Other priorities for the EC include: (1) How to ensure consumer-friendly access to DTV services. (2) Finding a balanced approach to digital rights management. (3) The need to create rules for VoIP and other new services that are fair to all operators. (4) Setting a coherent policy on spectrum. Reding said she intends to be “the European commissioner for convergence.”
SAN JOSE -- Business is booming for Iraqi wireless provider Asiacell, Chief Technology Officer Phil Moyse told the Wireless Communications Assn. Symposium here. “Our infrastructure tends to get attacked while it’s being built, but once it’s built, they tend to leave it alone,” he said Wed. “I guess everybody needs their mobile phone.”
The FCC’s International Bureau has begun a series of face-to-face meetings with Canadian and Mexican officials on cross-border issues that must be resolved as part of the 800 MHz rebanding initiative, Chief Don Abelson said Thurs. “We've sat down face to face and talked to them,” Abelson told reporters after the FCC meeting. “Formal means that we actually start a process through the State Dept. and that has not yet been initiated, but it will be.” Abelson said both countries are interested in further discussions. “They want to talk further with us, want to get a better sense of what the final rule is going to look like,” he said. Meanwhile, the FCC will soon launch a website that provides information on the ongoing 800 MHz rebanding. The address is www.800mhz.gov.
The NAACP and Free Press filed a petition with the FCC to deny Media General’s request for a permanent waiver of the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rules. Media General wants to keep both WMBB-TV (Ch. 13, ABC) Panama City and the Jackson County Floridian in Marianna. But current rules prohibit license renewal that would allow common ownership of a daily newspaper and TV station serving the same area, unless the combination predated adoption of the rule in 1975. “Media General took the risk of gambling” that the rule would be repealed or modified before the station’s license came up for renewal, the group said. In June, the 3rd U.S. Appeals Court, Philadelphia, remanded the FCC’s major rules for newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership and the concentration of broadcast ownership in local markets. NAACP and Free Press said Media General had failed to show common ownership of both the paper and the station would increase diversity. The Commission has granted 4 permanent waivers of the rules, but in those cases the stations proved that without a waiver the public would likely lose a media voice, the group said.
With the incoming 109th Congress expected to pass telecom reform legislation, wireline and wireless lobbyists see issues of state jurisdiction playing a role in the debate. Edward Merlis, USTA senior vp-govt. and regulatory issues, said state jurisdictional concerns are one reason he believes Congress, not the FCC, is the only body able to make the needed changes to the telecom regulatory regime. Bobby Franklin, CTIA vp-govt. affairs, said the issues raised in the VoIP debate during the last Congress are likely to be raised in other telecom contexts next year, including wireless.