Headlines
Overview
Brief History
What to Expect
Headlines
MAP Refutes Industry Arguments for Increased Media Consolidation
January 16, 2007 On behalf of Prometheus Radio Project, MAP filed Reply Comments in the FCC's ownership proceedings, refuting several industry arguments made in favor of increasing media consolidation. MAP counters industry claims that recent increases in programming choices and advances in technology have eliminated the need for ownership diversity and reasonable regulation. MAP also explains why a number of economic studies submitted by the National Association of Broadcasters fail to make a case for further relaxation of media ownership rules.
Read the reply comments
MAP Asks Commission to Address Minority and Women Ownership Issues
October 23, 2006 On behalf of Prometheus Radio Project, Media Access Project filed comments in the FCC's broadcast ownership proceeding, requesting the Commission review proposals to promote minority and women ownership of media outlets. MAP urged the Commission to consider measures that would promote viewpoint diversity by creating incentives for minority and female ownership. MAP also asked the Commission to modify or repeal the outdated and unfair UHF discount.
Read the comments
MAP and Diverse Coalition Urge FCC to Keep Ownership Limits
October 23, 2006 Media Access Project and coalition of public interest, media reform and community media advocates filed comments in the FCC's broadcast ownership proceeding, urging the Commission to protect localism and diversity by retaining the current broadcast ownership limits. "This proceeding is about peoples’ right to receive all sorts of information and opinions from all sorts of people,” said Parul Desai, Assistant Director of Media Access Project. "Without the current rules, a small number of media executives will be in charge of deciding what information the public has a right to receive."
Read MAP's press release
Read the comments
Former FCC Lawyer Says Agency Suppressed Damaging Report
September 14, 2006 In a recently released AP story, former Media Bureau attorney Adam Candeub said senior officials at the FCC ordered the destruction of a report that found locally owned stations produced more local news. The report, which was leaked yesterday to Senator Barbara Boxer, was written by two FCC economists in response to a localism task force initiated under former Chairman Michael Powell. The report refutes claims made by Powell and the FCC during its 2003 review of the media ownership rules.
Read the full article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-09-14-fcc-study_x.htm
Mystery FCC Report: Local Ownership = More Local News
September 13, 2006 At yesterday's Senate reconfirmation hearing of FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, Senator Barbara Boxer produced a copy of a 2004 FCC "working paper," in which staff found that locally owned news stations show more local news. The paper, submitted anonymously to Senator Boxer, concluded that locally owned television stations provided 5 1/2 more minutes of local news coverage (33 hrs more a year) in an half-hour newscast than their corporate owned counterparts. Chairman Martin stated that he had never seen the paper.
Read the paper
Article
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6371192.html?display=Search+Results&text=martin
MMTC Challenges FCC's Efforts on Minority Ownership
August 23, 2006 The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council (MMTC) filed a Motion for Withdrawl of the Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, requesting the Commission revise its ownership rulemaking proceeding to include serious consideration of minority ownership issues. In 2004, the U.S. Ct. of Appeals for 3rd Circuit in its Prometheus decision, reprimanded the FCC for failing to consider minority ownership proposals in its 2002 review of ownership rules. Despite the court's admonishment, the Commission has yet again failed to give any real priority to examining minority ownership in the broadcast media.
Read the motion
Web Not Replacing Local TV News
August 16, 2006 A recent study completed by Crawford, Johnson & Northcott, a market research and consulting firm specializing in local TV, found that 75% of internet users watch a local newscast at least twice a week and 52% said they try to watch at least one local newscast per day. The study helps to refute deregulation supporters' claims that the internet has replaced television news as a primary source for local and community information.
Read the full article at:
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/media_agencies/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003017927
Lawmakers Urge FCC to Include Public in Ownership Debate
August 1, 2006 Led by Rep. Maurice Hinchey, 84 members of the U.S. House of Representatives submitted a letter to Chairman Kevin Martin requesting the FCC conduct its ownership review in "open and transparent" manner. Hinchey and his colleagues want the Commission to increase the number of public hearings on the issue, and allow for extended public comment on any proposed changes to the ownership rules.
Read the letter
FCC Commences Ownership Review
June 21, 2006 The FCC voted today to begin review of its media ownership rules. The adoption of the Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking comes two years after the Third Circuit Ct. of Appeals in its Prometheus ruling, rejected FCC attempts to loosen ownership limits and remanded the rules back to the Commission for further review. In addition to addressing the issues raised by the courts decision, the further notice also initiates the quadrennial review of all media ownership rules as mandated by Congress in 2004.
Read the Commission's release and further notice of proposed rule making
Read MAP's response to the Commission's vote
Overview
In the 1940's, when several of the rules set to be reviewed were established, Americans had very few television and radio choices; broadcast media was dominated by three networks. In today's digital era, we now have access to thousands of programming options. But despite the seemingly endless variety of media programming, actual control over what information we see and hear becomes further and further consolidated into the hands of a small group of media giants.
Despite these increasing levels of consolidation, since the 1980's there has been a constant movement to loosen or eliminate ownership limits that protect diversity in media. This pressure accelerated with the passage of the 1996 Telecom Act and culminated with the FCC's 2002 attempt to deregulate the broadcast ownership rules. But, public interest and media reform organizations such as MAP have fought back against consolidation and despite an adverse political climate, have managed to keep in place a number of integral media ownership limits.
Now, once again those critical limits are potentially threatened. MAP's victory in the Prometheus case and the strong public backlash against the FCC's 2002 deregulation attempt, has vastly changed the political and legal landscape for this review. Although it is unlikely the Commission will attempt to deregulate to levels of 2002, they are likely to use the increasing availability of local and independent news and content online as justification for relaxing or eliminating several ownership rules and limits.
Brief History
(Click here for a timeline)
1996 Telecom Act
Section 202 (h) requires the FCC to review its ownership rules every two years and repeal or modify any regulation determined to be no longer in the public interest. In the 1998 and 2000 reviews, the FCC upheld nearly all ownership rules as still in the public interest.
Fox Television and Sinclair Decisions
In 2002, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in back to back rulings empowered the FCC to deregulate media ownership. The court in Fox Televisions Stations, Inc. v. FCC , partially reversed the Commission's 2000 ownership review report and eliminated a rule preventing cable operators from owning broadcast stations in areas they currently serviced. In Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. v. FCC, the court questioned the "duopoly rule", requesting the Commission reexamine its regional ownership limits for television. Both court decisions held that Section 202 (h) of the 1996 Telecom Act contained a "deregulatory presumption," that placed the burden of evidence on arguments seeking to keep the existing rules in place.
The Commission's 2002 Biennial Review of Media Ownership Rules
The FCC adopted the D.C. Circuit's deregulatory presumption and in its 2002 Biennial Review relaxed several critical ownership limitations. Among the Commission's deregulatory actions, were increasing the number of local television stations a single entity could own, raising the national television ownership cap from 35% to 45% and allowing for the cross-ownership in the same market, of newspaper, radio and television.
Congress Sets Ownership Cap at 39%
In January 2004, in response to significant public backlash against the Commission's attempt to loosen media ownership limits, Congress passed legislation decreasing the FCC's national television ownership cap from 45% to 39%. It also changed the biennial review of media ownership rules to every four years.
Prometheus Radio Project v. FCC
In response to Commission's deregulation, MAP, along with other public interest groups, challenged the FCC's order in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. In Prometheus Radio Project v. FCC , the Third Circuit overturned the FCC's attempt to relax ownership limits and remanded the rules back to the Commission for further review. It also ruled that section 202 (h) of the 1996 Telecom Act did not contain a "deregulatory presumption," and that the burden rested with those seeking to modify or eliminate the existing rules.
What To Expect
Review Process
The Commission has pledged to hold six public hearings outside of Washington, D.C., in geographically diverse locations around the country.
Once the order establishing the ownership review proceeding is released in the Federal Register, the public will have 60 days to file comments with the FCC.
After the initial comments period, there will also be a reply comment period of 60 days.
The Commission will release its report sometime after the comment period has ended. There is no deadline for their decision.
Ownership Rules Under Review
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Local Radio Ownership Rule
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Allows ownership of up to eight radio stations (on a sliding scale) in a local market, depending on total number of stations in market.
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Local Television Ownership Rule
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Sometimes called the "duopoly" rule, it allows ownership of up to two televisions stations in the same Designated Market Area (DMA) (as defined by Nielsen Media Research), so long as one of the stations is not ranked among the four highest-ranked stations and the market has at least eight independently owned stations.
Proposed relaxations include: ownership of two television station or a duopoly in all markets, 2) permitting ownership of three stations in all but the smallest markets.
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Local Radio-Television Cross Ownership Rule
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Permits up to two TV and six radio stations (or one TV and seven radio) so long as there are at least the 20 independent voices in the market (TV, radio, daily newspapers, cable service).
Media companies like Clear Channel, which already own radio and television stations in the same market, will likely push for relaxing the current limits.
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Newspaper/Broadcast Cross-ownership Ban
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Prohibits ownership of a local radio or television station and a major local daily newspaper.
The ban is a major target of Chairman Martin, who views the increase in local news content and information available online as a justification for eliminating the rule.
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Dual Network Ban
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Prevents the ownership of two broadcast television networks by a single entity. Rule only applies to the big four networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, & FOX) and not to cable television networks or smaller broadcast networks such as WB/UPN or PAX.
The rule remained untouched in the Commission's 2002 review and it is unlikely the ban will be lifted as a result of this review.
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UHF Discount on the National Television Ownership Limit
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The rule provides an automatic 50% discount for measuring the viewership reach of UHF stations. When the rule was established in the 1970's, there was a substantial difference in the signal strength of UHF stations versus their VHF counterparts. With the advent of cable, satellite, and now digital broadcasting, UHF stations are capable of reaching their entire designated market area.
In the 2002 review the Commission maintained the 50% discount, noting that it would need to be reevaluated once the digital television transition has been completed. But, with some UHF stations now digitally broadcasting and being carried simultaneously on cable and satellite, the case for maintaining this outdated loophole is losing strength.
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