WASHINGTON—A large group of 73 members of the U.S. House of Representatives led by Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC) has sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) calling for immediate action to update what the lawmakers are calling "outdated ownership regulations" that hurt local TV and radio stations.
The House members backing the letter emphasized the need for rules that reflect today’s competitive media landscape, where local broadcasters face unprecedented challenges competing with less-regulated Big Tech platforms.
The letter was signed by members of both parties but signatories were heavily skewed towards Republicans, with 69 Republican members of the House and only 4 Democratic Party members signing the letter.
The letter argued that “existing broadcast ownership regulations…[that] originated in the 1940s” are badly in need of being modernized.
“While the FCC has made incremental adjustments over the decades, the fundamental ownership restrictions have remained largely unchanged since the 1990s, imposing undue constraints on broadcasters’ ability to innovate and invest in local content,” the letter asserted. “These regulations are a relic of an era when broadcasters were the only electronic media. Today, any one of the largest Big Tech platforms dwarfs the entire broadcast industry – yet they are held to no similar limitations on their reach. This imbalance places broadcasters at a severe disadvantage in competing for advertising dollars and audience engagement.”
The letter did not propose specific changes to ownership caps, which currently prohibit broadcast station groups from owning stations covering more than 39% of the country.
It did argue that existing rules make it harder for broadcasters to offer important local news and public safety information: “At a time when newspapers are battling to survive, broadcasters’ local engagement is more important than ever. When broadcasters cannot combine or expand operations, they struggle to maintain sufficient newsroom staff and invest in journalism. This increasing lack of access to local information leaves communities vulnerable to misinformation from unverified sources on social media.”
“Reforming outdated ownership rules is essential to ensuring that broadcasters remain viable, competitive, and capable of fulfilling their essential role in American democracy,” the letter concluded. “By modernizing these regulations, the FCC can empower broadcasters to better serve their communities, promote local journalism, and compete in the modern media marketplace. Updating these rules is not just an urgent economic necessity, it is a public service imperative.”
The letter comes at a time when broadcasters are hopeful that the FCC under the new Republican administration will be more open to loosening broadcast ownership rules.
The FCC has so far opened up an aggressive deregulatory campaign to remove excess red tape called "Delete, Delete, Delete." But it has also directly intervened in hiring practices by threatening investigations of companies like Comcast and Disney for DEI initiatives and signaled a willingness to directly regulate editorial content with "news distortion" investigations involving stations owned by CBS, ABC and NBC.
NAB’s recently launched a Modernize the Rules campaign to urge the FCC to overhaul broadcast ownership regulations that the NAB said unfairly limit broadcasters’ ability to grow, invest in local journalism and compete for talent, content and advertising revenue.
The NAB also applauded the letter. “America’s local TV and radio stations are facing a radically transformed media landscape where global tech giants operate without restriction while local stations remain shackled by decades-old rules,” said NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt. “NAB is grateful to Rep. Hudson and his bipartisan colleagues for urging the FCC to bring its ownership regulations into the modern era. Quickly updating these rules is essential to preserving local journalism, strengthening public safety and ensuring that broadcasters can continue to serve the communities that rely on them every day.”
