There's no longer a need for broadcast-ownership restrictions, said American Action Forum’s Jeffrey Westling and Aryan Mirchandani in a post Wednesday. Ownership limits intended to promote viewpoint diversity and competition are outdated because of the prevalence of modern media options, they wrote. “There are costs to keeping these rules in place, and if the FCC’s goal is to promote a robust and diverse broadcast market, eliminating these rules can help,” the post said. “By eliminating the restrictions, the FCC could create efficiencies for firms, lowering costs and better allowing broadcasters to compete with digital alternatives.”
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said Tuesday that he hasn’t made up his mind about how the FCC should handle the national ownership cap or the 2022 quadrennial review, and no application has yet been submitted for the Nexstar/Tegna deal. Carr has said in the past that the FCC has authority to alter the national cap and that broadcasters should no longer be constrained by ownership limits. During Tuesday's news conference, he also said he doubts the FCC will rule on Nexstar/Tegna in 2025, and the shutdown would likely affect the agency’s timeline for addressing the national cap and the QR.
The Consumer Technology Association's ex parte meeting with the FCC to discuss ATSC 3.0 took place Monday (see 2510220047)
In two recent interviews, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr suggested that the agency could auction the spectrum of broadcasters that don’t wish to comply with its public interest standard. “Maybe some of these broadcast TV stations that have the public interest obligation and don't want to comply with it anymore, we can effectively auction that spectrum if they want to purchase it without the public interest discount,” Carr said in an interview Tuesday on the Salem News Channel’s The Hugh Hewitt Show. “Maybe that's an idea that we should do, is reauction those broadcast airways.”
The Consumer Technology Association “remains concerned” about NAB’s proposal for an ATSC 3.0 tuner mandate, the trade group said in a meeting Monday with aides to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and Media Bureau staff, according to an ex parte filing in docket 16-142. The group praised the FCC’s draft ATSC 3.0 further NPRM for asking questions about consumer costs and technical feasibility of the 3.0 transition.
Congress should eliminate the FCC’s public interest authority because it's unconstitutional and based on an outdated view of the media marketplace, wrote Free State Foundation CEO Randolph May in a post Tuesday. “FCC commissioners from both political parties have invoked the public interest standard to threaten free speech rights.” Congress should overhaul the Communications Act to reflect modern changes to the media marketplace and remove the public interest authority in the process, he said. “I will concede that I am not optimistic that Congress will act anytime soon to do what I suggest here and have long recommended. But it could, and it should.”
The CBS News ombudsman has started accepting complaints about the network's coverage, according to the network's website. "Have feedback for the CBS News Ombudsman? Please reach out to ombudsman@cbsnews.com and the ombudsman will review your inquiry as soon as possible," it says.
National Religious Broadcasters CEO Troy Miller praised President Donald Trump and a preliminary ceasefire between Hamas and Israel in a news release Thursday. “We acknowledge with gratitude the tireless perseverance, strategic vision, and dedication of President Donald J. Trump and his administration in pushing forward a diplomatic path toward peace,” Miller said. “NRB has long been a steadfast champion of Israel and a vocal advocate for her right to live in peace and security in her biblical homeland.”
The FCC’s draft NPRM on ATSC 3.0 and a recent grant from the Department of Transportation to fund the Broadcast Positioning System pilot program (see 2510070016) show that “momentum is building” for the new standard, NAB said in a blog post Thursday. While the NPRM doesn’t take a side on NAB’s proposals for a mandatory transition starting in 2028 and for a 3.0 tuner mandate for TVs, it does tentatively propose doing away with the FCC’s "substantially similar" and simulcast requirements (see 2510070038). “In an important step forward, the [FCC] has proposed eliminating key barriers that have slowed broadcasters’ ability to bring viewers the full benefits of this cutting-edge technology,” NAB said. There are “more than 125 television stations in 77 markets reaching roughly 75% of viewers [that] are already broadcasting with the ATSC 3.0 standard,” the group noted. “We look forward to working with the Commission as it removes these barriers and establishes dates by which the broadcasting industry and viewers will take this exciting leap into the next generation of television.”
Broadcast standards association ATSC is “encouraged” by the FCC’s draft ATSC 3.0 NPRM, President Madeleine Noland said in an emailed statement Wednesday. “While we’re going through the many questions raised by the FCC in its draft document, ATSC believes it's good that conversations are underway and that the next phase of the transition is about to begin.” Moving to 3.0 will “allow broadcasters to enhance their ties to local viewers, with the capability to enhance emergency messages” and “improve accessibility for viewers.” The group doesn’t “advocate for specific positions” on what should happen with the transition, she added.