TV Groups Want FCC to Raise the Ownership Cap
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Sinclair got the ball rolling and now the other TV station ownership groups want to play with it.
B&C reports that a number of high-profile broadcast groups have been telling the FCC they would be OK with moving the national ownership cap to 50% from 39%, rather than eliminating it altogether.
In filings at the FCC, Hearst Television, Scripps Media, Raycom Media, Gray Television, Graham Media, Quincy Media, Dispatch Broadcast Group and Morgan Murphy Media told the FCC they can support both a cap at 50% and eliminating the UHF discount for future broadcast groups, so long as current groups that would be over that 50% cap without the discount are grandfathered.
They say that "will bring the Cap up to date with the current marketplace and strike a reasonable balance among the competing interests in play."
But doing so will likely cost jobs. The groups told the FCC that they would like combine (consolidate?) their assets to make "business sense."
"In order to facilitate the production of high-quality local journalism, the Local Broadcasters must be free to combine television, radio, print, and digital online assets in whatever fashion makes business sense to serve discrete local markets," the groups told the commission.
I don't know about you, but when I hear the words "business sense" it always seems to involve layoffs.
Just saying....
