FCC Must Look at National Cap to Remove UHF Discount
The same reasoning used by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in vacating FCC joint sales agreement attribution rules prevents the agency from eliminating the UHF discount without examining the nationwide broadcast ownership cap, said NAB in a letter…
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to the commission posted online Thursday in docket 13-26. Just as the 3rd Circuit said attribution rules don't exist separately from the ownership rules they're based on, “there would be no need to have the UHF discount if it were not for the national TV ownership cap,” NAB said. The FCC can't “logically demonstrate that making the national TV ownership rule more stringent by removing the UHF discount serves the public interest without examining the cap itself,” said NAB. Removing the UHF discount without examining the national cap “will not withstand judicial scrutiny,” NAB said,