Public Interest Groups Push for Swift Action on Quadrennial Reviews
The FCC should expeditiously act on the 2018 and 2022 quadrennial reviews of broadcast ownership said several public interest groups in a virtual meeting Wednesday with staff from the Media Bureau and the Office of Economics and Analytics, according to…
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an ex parte filing posted Monday in docket 18-349. Free Press, Common Cause and the United Church of Christ Justice Ministry said the agency should begin analyzing ownership data to understand the current state of media diversity and to affirmatively declare in a 2018 QR order that the Communications Act's public interest standard includes race and gender ownership diversity. The agency should also clamp down on broadcast ownership loopholes such as shared service agreements, the filing said. “There is no reasonable justification” to conclude the 2018 QR “without closing these operating agreement loopholes, which have abetted the broadcast industry’s reliance on shell companies,” the filing said. The Future of Music Coalition and musicFIRST said the agency shouldn’t loosen local radio ownership caps, and the agency should “conduct studies analyzing the extent to which past consolidation events have led to a reduction of viewpoints." Other groups on the call included the National Hispanic Media Coalition and the Communications Workers of America.