RELAXED OWNERSHIP RULES ‘IMPERATIVE’ FOR FREE TV TO SURVIVE—POWELL
Relaxation of the FCC’s restrictions on broadcast ownership “may be imperative if we want to preserve free, over-the-air television,” FCC Chmn. Powell told the Media Institute Thurs. in Washington. The Commission, he said, needs to replace existing ownership restrictions with “a coherent set of rules… to reflect the massive changes [in] the media landscape.” He cited “a virtual explosion of diverse and varied content” of electronic media since the rules were adopted.
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Before recent decisions, courts generally had accepted the nexus between the agency’s efforts to promote diversity in ownership and content “without much empirical proof,” Powell said. Saying existing rules were adopted when there were only 3 TV networks (and very little cable), he said in the last 4 years “the number of media outlets has swollen by 195% and the number of media owners by 139%.” But he said the FCC continued to cite media scarcity to justify the restrictions: “It simply has become more difficult to simply assert… that ownership restriction is essential in promoting diversity of viewpoints where so many owners and outlets thrive.”
Powell said the restrictions “continue to glide along, more out of inertia than compulsion,” and the Commission had failed to recognize, “as do many advocates of strong media regulation,” that changes in the marketplace would require “a more compelling explanation.” He said “the noisemakers [against relaxation of rules] must join us in finding solutions.”
The Telecom Act of 1996 laid out “a real bombshell” for the FCC in placing the burden of proof on the agency -- rather than on those wanting change -- in keeping rules in place, and in requiring the Commission to justify its rules every 2 years, Powell said. He said he tentatively had scheduled an open Commission meeting June 2 to consider the ownership rules.
The courts’ twice declaring the FCC’s EEO rules unconstitutional has hurt govt.-wide efforts -- not just at the FCC -- to promote “race and gender diversity in all contexts… not just broadcasting,” Powell said. Without any details, he said: “I personally intend to initiate a new Commission effort to create more ways to promote opportunity” for women and minorities in broadcasting.
The only immediate response to Powell’s speech came from Andrew Schwartzman of the Media Access Project. He said no changes were needed in existing rules because the FCC had granted many waivers of newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership and duopoly restrictions. The chmn., he said, “evidently wants to permit all such ownership combinations without examining the harm they could do to a particular community. This sweeping ‘off-with-their-heads’ approach… poses a real threat to the democratic process.”