FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s plans to increase regulation...
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler’s plans to increase regulation of joint services agreements are inconsistent with the section of the 1996 Telecom Act that requires quadrennial review of ownership rules, said NAB General Counsel Jane Mago in a post on the…
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association’s blog Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1fSkTHB). The section was adopted as part of a “deregulatory framework,” Mago said. “I find it very hard to understand how one could conclude that reaching back to a docket from 2004 to increase regulation of joint sales agreements (JSAs) without any consideration of the larger picture or change in the marketplace is consistent with the directive.” Mago also found fault with Wheeler’s reasoning that since parent companies claim sidecar companies’ profits in their SEC filings, the sidecar stations should be attributable. “Those filings respond to rules and goals established by the SEC for a very different purpose than FCC licensing. SEC filings are not a part of FCC precedent or law,” Mago said. FCC decisions on attribution should be based on “decision-making authority over programming, personnel and financing,” Mago said. “The FCC is not free to ignore precedent.” The FCC should look at local TV ownership rules “in light of current competitive conditions,” Mago said. “That cannot mean starting another never-ending quadrennial review while tightening restrictions on local broadcast stations alone."