FCC Chairman Ajit Pai circulates a draft of a rulemaking to consider retaining, modifying or eliminating the cap that, with the restoration of the UHF discount earlier this year, now enables TV station groups to reach as many as 78% of TV homes. A vote on the proposal is set for Dec. 14.
Pai Triggers Review Of National Station Cap
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai today issued the following statement on the draft rulemaking that he circulated to his fellow commissioners today, seeking comment on whether the FCC should “modify, retain or eliminate” the national TV station ownership cap.
The draft is expected to be released publicly tomorrow with a vote on whether to launch the proceeding set for Dec. 14.
Earlier this year, the commission reinstated the UHF discount, which had the effect on raising the cap from 39% to 78%, Pai said. Last year, he suggested, erred when it eliminated the discount and “effectively tightened the cap without determining whether that was in the public interest.”
“Because the national cap and the UHF discount are inextricably linked, any review of one component of the rule must include a review of the other.”
“Under the proposal that I shared with my colleagues today, we would go about determining the future of the national cap, including the UHF discount, the right way.
“Specifically, we would seek public input on whether to modify, retain, or eliminate the 39% national cap as well as the UHF discount [that doubles the cap to 78%]. With respect to legal authority, in 2016 the commission ‘conclude[d] that [it] has the authority to modify the national audience reach cap, including the authority to revise or eliminate the UHF discount’; we will take a fresh look at this issue as well.
BRAND CONNECTIONS
“A comprehensive review of the rule is warranted in light of considerable marketplace changes, such as technological developments and increased video programming options for consumers, since the cap was last modified in 2004.”
Comments (14)
Julien Devereux says:
November 21, 2017 at 3:53 pm
Oh yeah. The fewer voices we have giving us news and information the better off we are. It would be even better if Sinclair owned ALL of the TV stations, so we’d never have to wonder who is telling the truth, because then, the only voice would OF COURSE tell us only the truths we NEED to hear. (Like, we’re not at war with Oceana, it’s Eurasia we’ve always been fighting.)
Angie McClimon says:
November 21, 2017 at 4:03 pm
Sinclair is unable to tell the truth. This is only going to set them up infect more markets with their biased dreck.
Debra Rein says:
November 21, 2017 at 4:11 pm
Would you rather have a bunch of broken down, cash strapped stations with no reporters nor capital to bring the news forward. Prosperity in local broadcasting benefits all of us. Get off the left wing stuff. You people are all head strong, you won’t be blinded by conservatism. You act like being told the right way to do things is going to poison your lost souls.
alicia farmer says:
November 21, 2017 at 4:18 pm
Crocodile tears. 90% of stations operate above a 35% margin. You sound like Donald Trump making stuff up.
Debra Rein says:
November 21, 2017 at 4:38 pm
I can tell you are a former GM, you’ve been out for awhile. The 35% margin stations are the number 1 or 2 stations in the top 100 markets. The problem is the 35% is now off a lot smaller revenue number that’s shrinking each day. It’s a different world out here than when you were in it. It’s not easy anymore.
Kaylor Blakley says:
November 21, 2017 at 5:40 pm
It’s not a question of left, right, up, or down. It boils down to independence and multiple viewpoints. Perhaps where your located you may have a “broken down, cash strapped station”, that however is not the situation with the overwhelming rest of the country.
Brian Bussey says:
November 21, 2017 at 3:56 pm
the UHF discount is a myth in a digital world.
Veronica Serrano Padilla says:
November 21, 2017 at 10:30 pm
Wondering when a VHF station is going to claim discrimination because of this antiquated rule – but hopefully this silly rule will eventually be dropped.
Ricardo Celis says:
November 21, 2017 at 4:58 pm
there is NO overall strategy in Washington for media company ownership. Buy all the stations you want because Google and Facebook dominate the ad markets…..but don’t allow TW and ATT to merge although Google, Facebook, Netflix and Amazon are taking control of content creation through outsized spending. What gives?
Shenee Howard says:
November 21, 2017 at 5:51 pm
Pai is clearly inching toward censorship and single voice. He has reinstated a long obsolete UHF discount and changed ownership rules that could allow Sinclair and others to control 4 stations in a market (which is all in some markets) through direct ownership, so called side car ownership (what a crock that is) and JSAs. He is going to allow the largest ISPs to select what websites we can access. Now he is looking to further open up ownership limiits making this situation even worse. Step back and realize it is not one action, but the culmination of all his actions that is very scary and works against diversity of voice. That is NOT in the public interest.
Andrea Rader says:
November 21, 2017 at 6:05 pm
Using government regulation to prohibit one specific operator (Sinclair) from having a voice in specific television markets is the very essence of censorship.
John Livingston says:
November 21, 2017 at 8:20 pm
Wrong on UHF discount which isn’t obsolete Wheeler was wrong to get rid of it and broke the rules Pai righted that wrong for free market to work which you clearly don’t get and don’t know what censorship is either.
Veronica Serrano Padilla says:
November 21, 2017 at 10:29 pm
You can certainly argue that the UHF discount and ownership cap go hand in hand. I’d also buy that the UHF discount shouldn’t have been eliminated without reviewing/changing the ownership cap. But there is zero way to argue that the UHF discount isn’t “obsolete.” By the way, giving certain stations the ability to only count half for a national cap is DEFINITELY NOT the way the “free market” works.
Michael Lam says:
November 21, 2017 at 11:21 pm
This is a political move to help Sinclair and other conservative owners. It’ll cripple the broadcast industry’s ability to cover local political news, especially with the cross-ownership newspaper ban eliminated… It’ll really hurt local advertisers who’ll get hit with huge price increases from the near-monopolies created, pushing them to digital faster, further undermining the industry. This is good for one political party, good for Google, bad for broadcasting and bad for local business.