Nexstar CEO Perry Sook condemned Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy in an interview with Policyband released Tuesday, calling him a “cafeteria conservative” and saying that arguments that broadcast consolidation limits the voices participating in local news are based on a false choice. “Do you want any local news or no local news? If we maintain the status quo, no changes, I’m telling you that ultimately, your news will come from a server and a chatbot,” Sook said. “There won’t be local newsrooms because no one will be able to afford to stay in that business by being kept regulatorily small.”
Congress intended for the FCC to retain authority to relax the national TV-ownership cap as market conditions change, said Wiley Rein's Thomas Johnson, a former general counsel at the agency, in an ex parte letter posted in docket 17-318 Tuesday. The FCC “should not be duped” by “false-flag arguments” that the best reading of the text of the statute is that the FCC doesn’t have authority over the cap. Congress repeatedly used phrases allowing the FCC to modify its rules “because it was not mandating that these ownership limits be set in stone,” Johnson wrote. “Rather, these were one-time adjustments that Congress intended the FCC would continually revisit over time -- and indeed, that the FCC would modify or repeal these rules over time as the media marketplace became more competitive.” The national cap “places an anticompetitive thumb on the scale in favor of Big Tech. Relaxing or eliminating it would remove this artificial constraint on broadcasters’ ability to compete with today’s dominant media conglomerates.”
The Senate Commerce Committee’s FCC oversight hearing Wednesday remains likely to feature a heavy emphasis on examining commission Chairman Brendan Carr’s media regulatory actions, including his mid-September comments against ABC and parent Disney, which were widely perceived as inciting the network’s since-reversed decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air (see 2509220059). Carr threatened ABC in a podcast interview, saying the network should discipline Kimmel for comments about the reaction to the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk (see 2509170064) or face FCC action.
The Center for American Rights kicked off an online campaign Monday supporting the elimination of the broadcast TV ownership cap and targeting the Senate Commerce Committee's FCC oversight hearing Wednesday. In an interview, CAR President Daniel Suhr told us he bases the group’s FCC filings on President Donald Trump’s social media posts and public comments. He added that CAR’s focus on media resonates with conservatives and has raised its profile, increasing donations to the organization.
Laura Loomer, a podcaster widely seen as having the ear of President Donald Trump, endorsed the Nexstar/Tegna deal in a post on X late Tuesday, calling on FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to approve the transaction. Loomer denounced Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy, who has been a vocal opponent of the deal (see 2508050051). Ruddy is a “selfish leftist” who “opposes both the Nexstar-Tegna merger and the proposed FCC ownership rule change,” Loomer wrote. His network is widely seen as one of the most conservative TV news channels. Many FCC watchers suspect that Trump’s connection with Ruddy led to the president’s recent post objecting to proposals to do away with the national TV-ownership cap (see 2511240055). Ruddy’s opposition to the deal “only empowers the left and their mainstream media allies, who can still control programming in America through ownership no matter who is in the White House or running the FCC,” Loomer said.
The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) wants the FCC, Congress, the White House and DOJ to reject the Nexstar/Tegna deal, the group said Tuesday in a news release, which was highlighted in a separate release from fellow deal opponent Newsmax. “At a time when media bias is already undermining public trust, the last thing our nation needs is even greater consolidation of the television broadcast industry,” said ZOA National President Morton Klein.
Approving mergers between the largest broadcasters and rolling back broadcast-ownership rules will increase retransmission consent fees and “further increase concentration and the prospect of anticompetitive conduct at local and national levels,” said antitrust law firm Kressin Powers in a white paper released Thursday. “Today, the formerly 'local' TV industry is dominated by publicly traded, multibillion-dollar conglomerates owning and controlling hundreds of local-in-name-only affiliate stations,” said the paper, titled "From Local Stations to Nationwide Conglomerates: The High Cost of TV Mega-Mergers."
The FCC Media Bureau has kicked off the pleading cycle for Nexstar’s proposed $6.2 billion purchase of Tegna, said a public notice Monday. Petitions to deny the transaction are due Dec. 31, opposition filings Jan. 15, and replies Jan. 26. Under FCC rules, the combined company would reach 54.5% of U.S. households, so Nexstar has asked the agency to waive the 39% national ownership cap (see 2511190056).
NAB Chief Legal Officer Rick Kaplan said on an NAB podcast released Monday that he expects a relaxation of FCC broadcast-ownership rules “sometime in the next year or so” and that FCC Chairman Brendan Carr and his staff “understand” the problems that broadcasters face. Kaplan predicted that the FCC will relax local radio and TV ownership limits, as well as the national TV ownership cap. “It's the only thing that makes sense. It's in line with what the chairman has talked about repeatedly, both when he was a commissioner and now as chair."
The MVPD industry objections to loosening broadcast ownership rules are “self-serving,” said NAB in a letter posted in docket 12-318 Tuesday. Filings from DirecTV and other MVPDs “are part of the pay TV industry’s history of opposing any repeal or loosening of the broadcast ownership rules because pay TV providers prefer to compete against and negotiate retransmission consent agreements with competitively weaker broadcasters,” said NAB. The FCC should reject data submitted by DirecTV to support arguments that broadcast consolidation will lead to higher retransmission consent rates, NAB added.