The National Association of Broadcasters intends to sue the FCC over the results of its quadrennial media ownership regulatory review.
NAB Executive Vice President of Communications Dennis Wharton told Broadcasting & Cable, “Broadcasters want to compete in the digital age and continue being a trusted source for local news and information, but FCC rules need to reflect 2016 and not the 1960s. It defies belief that the FCC allows AT&T/DirecTV and Charter/Time Warner mergers while barring two Topeka TV stations from combining, or a radio station from buying a newspaper.”
The NAB is seeking the removal of the newspaper/broadcasting cross-ownership ban and the limits on television stations. Jerianne Timmerman
Senior Deputy General Counsel for the NAB wrote a long blog entry last week considering that the FCC’s view states “nothing of import has changed in the news industry and the marketplace position of print newspapers and broadcast stations for the past 41 years.”