FCC Chairman Ajit Pai had a busy Tuesday before Thanksgiving. In addition to circulating to his colleagues a draft order on Net Neutrality (see earlier item) he also circulated a draft Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking comment on the FCC’s national television multiple ownership rule, also known as the national cap, including the UHF discount.
The Commission would seek public input on whether to modify, retain, or eliminate the 39 percent national cap as well as the UHF discount. They’re both linked, according to Pai. The prior Commission killed the UHF discount, saying it’s no longer necessary. Pai said Tuesday that action “effectively tightened the cap without determining whether that was in the public interest.” That’s what he intends to do now by looking at both at the same time.
The move follows the FCC’s party-line 3-2 vote last week to modify the Local Television Ownership Rule to eliminate the requirement that at least eight independently owned television stations remain in a market before a company may own two TV stations there. At the time, Pai said the agency could only consider what issues were in the quadrennial media ownership review and it would consider the national ownership cap and UHF discount later. Pai said the FCC has the legal authority to review both.
FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn called the media ownership decision a “giveaway to the largest communications companies” because “it could open the doors to a single company reaching in excess of the 39 percent national broadcast audience cap set by Congress more than a decade ago.” Clyburn characterized the media ownership draft as “legally suspect” and called on her colleagues to “see the light,” and put this as well as the net neutrality draft “in the trash heap.”
November 22, 2017
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