FCC Efforts to Save Local Media Move Forward at the Supreme Court

For Immediate Release
October 2, 2020
Contact: Grace Morgan
(202-855-4380)

Washington, D.C. – The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA), and consumers across the country, are celebrating the news that the Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments regarding the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) efforts to modernize regulations governing local media ownership in the case Prometheus Radio Project v. FCC. For decades, FCC rules have prevented common-ownership of a local newspaper as well as a broadcast station (radio or television) in a given market. Rules similarly limited the number of broadcast stations a single entity could own as well as the ability for local media outlets to coordinate in advertising sales. Federal law explicitly instructs the FCC to review these rules and determine their necessity on a regular basis. While previous FCCs have neglected this duty, the current FCC (under the leadership of Chairman Ajit Pai), upheld their statutory duty and rightly determined these rules are no longer necessary in the digital age. However, the same panel of activist judges on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals have blocked similar efforts multiple times over the last two decades and did so once again last year. TPA Vice President of Policy Patrick Hedger offered the following comments:

“It shouldn’t take the Supreme Court to tell us what is painfully obvious, Americans have virtually-limitless options when it comes to news and entertainment in 2020. There is no logic in preventing a newspaper from owning a radio station when the New York Times produces some of the most listened-to podcasts in the world. Local television and radio stations similarly have their own websites and blogs, natural substitutes for newspapers. Activists want these rules kept in place in the name of ‘diversity,’ but the reality is that rules limiting common ownership in local media and coordination in advertising sales are hamstringing their ability to compete with tech giants for advertising dollars. Simply put, these archaic rules are bans on investment at a time when these outlets need it the most. You don’t protect diversity in an industry by slowly smothering it. The FCC has both the law and economics clearly on its side and TPA expects the Supreme Court will also easily recognize the legal and economic benefits.”

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