Outcry Against WMFE Programming Change Unlikely to Derail FCC Approval
Opposition to the sale of non-commercial station WMFE-TV Orlando isn’t likely to have an effect on the FCC’s approval of the deal, broadcast lawyers said in interviews. The filings, mainly from the general public, oppose selling the station to religious broadcaster Daystar. The FCC won’t involve itself in choosing one form of programming over another, the lawyers said.
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The FCC is reviewing about 470 filings in docket 11-75 on the sale to Daystar. The station is being sold by Community Communicators, the commission said in a public notice. Petitions to deny were due May 6. The FCC has no specific timeframe for a final decision, an agency spokeswoman said. The Media Bureau “reviews all the record in making its determination, which includes comments filed by the public,” she said. PBS is “an important part of Central Florida’s intellectual environment and to have it replaced with this kind of religious right broadcasting is a heinous crime,” Orlando resident Karen Jorgensen said in a filing.
Many petitioners expressed concern about Daystar’s airing programs hosted by minister John Hagee. “We urge you to keep public broadcasting on Orlando television and NOT give the air waves over to the hate-spewing John Hagee and his Daystar Television Network,” said Diane Davisson from The Villages, Fla. “TV preachers have plenty of outlets already, but places where kids can find wholesome programming are dwindling,” said Andrew Stapinski of Decatur, Ga. WMFE and Daystar had no comment.
Issues involving programming won’t have any bearing on the FCC’s decision, the attorneys said. “As long as the proposed buyer meets the FCC qualification as a noncommercial educational buyer, then FCC’s not going to get into questions of whether some programming is more valuable than others,” said David Oxenford of Davis Wright. While programming objections are typical in station sales, “the commission is not going to base their decision on format because that would involve the FCC in content issues,” said John Crigler of Garvey Schubert.
A similar outcry didn’t affect Rice University’s sale of KTRU(FM) Houston to the University of Houston, the broadcast attorneys said. Last month, the FCC rejected petitions to deny the sale of the station, which transitioned to a classical music and fine arts programming format. “The FCC will listen to whether or not the proposed licensee doesn’t meet some FCC requirement or has a skeleton in its closet,” Crigler said. These are issues that usually aren’t on the minds of the public, he added.
Other cases have shown that petitions like those filed in the WMFE docket can have an impact in other areas, Crigler added. When the University of the District of Columbia attempted to sell its jazz station, “there was a great rallying cry when they were going to sell that to a religious entity,” he said. Although the station was still sold, the proposed buyer stepped aside and C-SPAN bought it. Even if these petitions aren’t successful with the agency “they can make life quite difficult for the parties,” Crigler added.