FCC Unlikely to Alter National TV Ownership Cap in 2018
The FCC hasn’t arrived at a number for a new national TV ownership cap and is considered unlikely to address the matter in 2018. Lack of industry consensus on a single proposal for a new national cap, the absence of outside pressure to act, uncertainty about Tuesday's elections, and the FCC schedule for the rest of the year may be factors in the lack of action, industry watchers told us. The limit isn't on the November FCC meeting agenda.
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It's considered unlikely to be on December’s agenda. That meeting is expected to include the kick-off to the 2018 quadrennial review (see 1809270059). Change this year is "pretty unlikely,” said Garvey Schubert broadcast lawyer Lawrence Miller. That's "given the schedule and the political climate."
The agency hasn’t decided what a new cap would look like, said industry officials. A fractured industry that hasn’t itself focused on a single plan is part of the reason, they said. NAB's competition-based revamp plan for the UHF discount got little support, and a proposal for a 50 percent threshold made by mid-size broadcasters doesn’t have favor among larger groups such as Nexstar and Sinclair. A plan suggested by network affiliate groups said the ownership cap should only apply to network-owned stations (see 1803200059). Nexstar CEO Perry Sook and Fox Television Stations CEO Jack Abernethy told NAB Show New York the cap should be eliminated (see 1810170052), and Sook later suggested the FCC could try a relaxed cap with a sunset clause. The agency didn't comment.
Without a definitive plan, it’s extremely unlikely the commission could take action on the cap in 2018, industry officials said. Commissioner Mike O’Rielly wouldn’t comment on the timing of action on the cap, but in an interview Tuesday cited the upcoming holidays and busy FCC schedule as reasons the agency won’t take up another outstanding broadcast matter -- kidvid -- this year (see 1810310016). That same logic likely applies to the national ownership cap, attorneys said. Chairman Ajit Pai told us at an FCC news conference last week he wouldn’t specify when the agency would act on the cap.
“There continues to be disagreement on what [broadcasters] would like and it is a difficult order to write,” said Georgetown Law Institute for Public Representation Senior Counselor Andrew Schwartzman, an opponent of relaxing the threshold. “It’s pretty hard to justify increasing the cap.” Schwartzman expects the commission to adjust the cap in 2019.
The outcome of midterms also may be a factor, said broadcast lawyers. Broadcasters believe the FCC might be less likely to pursue action on a contentious item like the national cap if Democrats gain control of one or both chambers. Some industry officials believe one reason the FCC delayed acting on the cap is to keep it from becoming an issue in Tuesday's elections, though others said it’s unlikely FCC issues could move the needle in such a contentious political environment.
Lack of impending deals that push against the cap or looming court cases means there’s little pressure on the FCC to act, attorneys said. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decision on the UHF discount gave the agency “a breather,” an industry official said. One executive said it’s better for industry if the agency acts soon, because a future FCC chair may not be as favorably disposed toward broadcasters as Pai. Though it was once considered likely the agency would shelve the national cap proceeding, many broadcast industry officials now expect the agency to take some kind of action but not this year.