CEI Applauds FCC Vote to Relax Media Ownership Rules
Today the FCC voted 3-2 to relax outdated restrictions on media ownership.
CEI technology fellow, Jessica Melugin praised the development:
“The FCC’s vote is a win for consumers because this puts the law more in line with the realities of communications in 2017. People today get their information not just from print newspapers and television, but also from websites, satellite radio, and social media. These restrictions made increasingly less sense, if they ever made much sense at all.”
The biggest changes passed today include:
- Allowing for common ownership of a newspaper and a broadcast station in the same market
- Allowing for common ownership of two of the top four tv stations in the same market
- Exempting joint sales agreements from counting towards national tv ownership limits
- Lessening UHF holdings as they apply to national ownership caps
- Eliminating the physical presence rule requiring broadcasters to maintain a studio in their local coverage area