Media Research Center Appeals Audacy Waiver
The FCC should reconsider the foreign-ownership waiver Audacy was granted, said the Media Research Center in a petition posted Tuesday. Previously, MRC filed a petition seeking denial of Audacy's request (see 2404230054). The agency didn't show the order was in…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
the public interest and Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel "falsely asserted that her actions were backed up by precedent," said the MRC petition. Though the FCC has granted similar foreign-ownership requests linked to bankruptcies several times, MRC said those proceedings were different because not all of them involved waivers and none included a full commission vote. MRC's petition echoes Commissioner Brendan Carr's argument that bureau-level decisions don't set FCC precedent, making the Audacy order "unprecedented" even though the agency has taken similar actions several times since Carr became a commissioner. The FCC "should reconsider its grant of a waiver that creates a special [George] Soros shortcut for the takeover of Audacy, which owns the second-largest number of broadcast radio stations in the country," the petition said.