FCC: Issues: Ownership

Supreme Court Won't Review Ownership Rules

June 13, 2005 -- The Supreme Court decided on Monday not to review the Federal Communications Commission's media-ownership rules, which means that the commissioners must now rewrite some and better justify others. Broadcasters had asked the court to review an appeals court remand of the rules for those major justifications and changes.

Broadcasters argued that the remand is in conflict with earlier Supreme Court and other appeals court decisions on "the treatment of regulation that singles out a particular class of speakers," as well as an earlier D.C. circuit court decision on the status of ownership rules.

The rules generally deregulated ownership by allowing more duopolies (ownership of two stations in a market), some triopolies, and allowing newspaper/broadcast crossownership.

Read the full article in Broadcasting & Cable.

The Fallout From the Telecommunications Act of 1996: Unintended Consequences and Lessons Learned

This study by Common Cause tells the story of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and its aftermath. In many ways, the Telecom Act failed to serve the public and did not deliver on its promise of more competition, more diversity, lower prices, more jobs and a booming economy. Instead, the public got more media concentration, less diversity, and higher prices.

Download the full report (requires Adobe Acrobat).

Testimony of Jon Mandel before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

On July 8, 2003, Jon Mandel, Co-Chief Executive Officer of MediaCom, testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on the issue of radio ownership consolidation. Mandel testified that consolidation since the 1996 Telecom Act (which deregulated radio ownership) caused a spike in advertising rates, which deters many potential political candidates from running for office (as the cost of broadcast airtime is the most expensive part of a political campaign).

Click here to view Mandel's testimony in its entirety.

Final Rules on Broadcast Ownership Regulations

On June 2, 2003, the FCC adopted new broadcast ownership rules, which limit the type and number of media outlets that one entity or individual may own. The new rules allow owners to buy more television stations at local and national levels than previously permitted, ease prohibitions on joint ownership of different types of media, such as newspapers and television stations or television and radio stations.

NPRM on the Biennial Regulatory Review of Broadcast Ownership Rules

On September 12, 2002, the FCC initiated its third annual Biennial Regulatory Review of Broadcast Ownership Rules. In the 1996 Telecommunications Act, Congress mandated that the FCC review its media ownership rules to determine "whether any of such rules are necessary in the public interest as a result of competition." The FCC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to gather data to "build the foundation" for media ownership regulation, which ultimately resulted in the final rules on June 2, 2003.

Click here to view the Commission's press release on the ownership proceeding.

Click here to view the NPRM In the matter of the 2002 Biennial Regulatory Review, MB 02-277, Rel. Sep. 23, 2002, in its entirety.