Broadcasters must be able to report the news without government retaliation and need the FCC to scrap ownership limits, said NAB President Curtis LeGeyt during a Media Institute speech Wednesday. “Our democracy relies on journalists’ ability to report the news without the risk of government retribution,” he said. “Efforts to limit the ability of broadcasters to report the facts hinders the public’s right to know and chills free speech.” The FCC should eliminate the national ownership cap, or it risks damaging emergency alerting and local news, LeGeyt added. “Without a necessary course correction in our ability to compete for local advertising, local newsrooms will continue to downsize, robbing the community of its voice," he said. “Eliminating these regulations will allow local stations to aggregate resources, invest in journalism and strengthen their service to communities.”
Broadcasters’ legal challenge of the FCC’s 2018 quadrennial review (QR) order is set for oral argument in the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on March 19, said a filing in docket 24-1380 Friday. Petitioners Zimmer Radio, Nexstar, NAB, Beasley Media and Tri-State Communications have argued that the order violated the Communications Act because it didn’t roll back any broadcast ownership rules and ignored the increased competition faced by broadcasters. The FCC has previously argued in the case that the law doesn’t compel it to deregulate and that broadcasters haven’t shown that they face competition in local programming, but that could change under the agency’s new leadership. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr dissented from the QR order as a commissioner, calling its view of competition “ostrich-like.” Earlier this month, the agency kicked off oral argument over workforce diversity data collection by announcing it wouldn’t defend portions of the order (see 2502040061), which Carr also opposed as a commissioner.
Small and mid-sized cable operators are largely bullish about President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration and his choice of FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr to head the agency, expecting aggressive deregulation, ACA Connects President Grant Spellmeyer said during an interview with Communications Daily. Spellmeyer discussed the industry group's 2025 priorities, growing questions surrounding BEAD, and what one does during the lame-duck weeks before inauguration and a new administration. The following transcript was edited for length and clarity.
The prospects for achieving broadcast ownership deregulation are “better than at any point in the recent past” under the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump, said Nexstar CEO Perry Sook in a Q&A during the UBS Global Communications Conference. Sook said Monday he expects a congressional effort will scrap the 39% broadcast ownership cap and implement internal FCC changes that will ease rules on broadcasters within the first six months of the new administration. Incoming FCC head and current Commissioner Brendan Carr “gets it,” Sook said. “We've been in contact with him, and will continue to be in close contact.” Sook said that Carr’s repeated statements on taking away broadcast licenses and holding broadcasters to a public interest standard are aimed at NBC, CBS and ABC. “I think there is some animus or frustration with some of the networks for some of their content decisions.” However, Sook downplayed the threat. “FCC chairmen can't really unilaterally revoke licenses,” he said. “Now you can use your pulpit to commence hearings ... and ... make people's lives more expensive and more difficult, but unilaterally removing licenses is not really within the cards.” Along with Carr, Sook said Nexstar discussed deregulation with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La. Unlike previous pushes to change the national cap, the broadcast TV groups support completely removing it this time, Sook said. “The industry itself is united around the need and not divided as to what the right number is.” Carr could spur TV market consolidation simply by signaling that waivers allowing top-four duopolies would be more liberally granted, Sook said, adding it’s a move he could make without a majority at the commission. Sook is also looking to Carr to eliminate the simulcast requirement for the ATSC 3.0 transition and establish a date certain to end ATSC 1.0. “We are spending time working with both the legislative and the executive branch to try and affect these changes.”
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, the incoming chair, suggested Friday the agency could open a proceeding on the definition of the broadcaster public interest requirement and that he's open to broadcast ownership deregulation. In an interview with CNBC Friday, Carr said broadcasters “have to operate in the public interest, and ... it's probably appropriate for the FCC to take a fresh look at what that requirement looks like.” He added, “There is something different about broadcasters and say, podcasters, where you have to operate in a public interest,” Carr said. “So right now, all I'm saying is maybe we should start a rulemaking to take a look at what that means.” Carr also said he wants a fresh look at “a whole set of ownership issues” and ensuring “we get investment in local news.” He reiterated that revocation of broadcaster licenses for not meeting the public interest is “on the table,” though he also said that the law prevents the FCC from engaging in censorship. “I don't want to be the speech police.”
The FCC under presumed next Chairman Brendan Carr will scrutinize the Skydance/Paramount deal but also remove restrictions on broadcast ownership and “rebalance the scales in favor of business,” former FCC aide Adonis Hoffman wrote in a blog post for The Media Institute Wednesday. Although the FCC would “normally” review only the transfer of broadcast licenses connected with Paramount/Skydance, Hoffman said Paramount has issues with audience measurement and minority shareholders questioning the deal and that could merit the FCC conducting a more thorough examination. A complaint filed against CBS about editing a 60 Minutes interview “is unlikely to pass legal muster” but is also likely to lead Carr to look more closely at the transaction, Hoffman said. Though Hoffman expects scrutiny of the Paramount deal, the agency also will be friendlier to other broadcast acquisitions. “The new FCC promises to be much less hostile to companies seeking to consolidate,” he wrote. “That alone should encourage the mergers and acquisitions deals that have been sitting on the sidelines awaiting a more favorable regulatory environment.” He said Carr is likely to “reconfigure the vast amount of power that FCC bureaus now have and to centralize that decision-making in the office of the chairman.” That will make it more difficult for bureaus to levy fines and derail deals, Hoffman said, adding Carr will also likely streamline or sideline the agency’s advisory committees. Carr’s FCC “can be expected to function more like an activist SEC,” with regulations always changing to reflect shifting market dynamics. “Having served at the FCC as a legal adviser, Commissioner and now Chairman Carr has the institutional credibility to be politically courageous in consolidating power and effecting change.”
The incoming Republican administration and Congress will likely work at rolling back many of the current FCC’s policies through a combination of agency action, court decisions and the Congressional Review Act (CRA), attorneys and analysts told us in interviews. The CRA's threat also will likely limit the current FCC's agenda, they said. “The CRA is kind of looming over anything the FCC wants to try to do before the administration switches over,” said Jeffrey Westling, American Action Forum director-technology and innovation.
Broadcast executives during Q3 earnings calls were hopeful for ownership deregulation and progress on ATSC 3.0 from a Republican-controlled FCC, but FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr -- the perceived front-runner to chair the agency -- said Thursday that scrutinizing broadcasters is among his priorities. “We're very excited about the upcoming regulatory environment,” said Sinclair Broadcast CEO Chris Ripley during Sinclair’s call Wednesday. “It feels like a cloud over the industry is lifting ... and ... some much-needed modernization of the regulations will be forthcoming.” In a news release Thursday, Carr said when the transition to the next administration is complete “the FCC will have an important role to play reining in Big Tech, ensuring that broadcasters operate in the public interest, and unleashing economic growth while advancing our national security interests and supporting law enforcement.”
House Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., urged FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and FTC Chair Lina Khan Wednesday to stand down from working on controversial matters during the transition from President Joe Biden to former President Donald Trump, who won a second term that morning (see 2411060042). Senate GOP leaders will likely send similar “pencils down” letters, lobbyists told us. Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz of Texas and other GOP leaders are likely to have their positions against controversial FCC and FTC action strengthened given the party won control of the upper chamber Tuesday night, lobbyists said. Cruz appears on course to take the Senate Commerce gavel next year, having prevailed Tuesday as part of the Republicans' victory (see 2411060001).
In talks with corporate governance lawyers, FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington has begun promoting how the FCC's cyber-trust mark could help reduce operations costs, making suppliers from trusted nations more competitive against Chinese suppliers. In an extensive interview with Communications Daily last month, Simington also discussed "smart and targeted" reforms of linear video distribution regulation (see 2409120059), his new practice of dissenting from monetary forfeitures (see 2409060054) and how he sees U.S. industrial policy in the context of China (see 2408200041). In addition, he touched on incentivizing commercial orbital debris removal. The following transcript was edited for length and clarity.