FCC Sets Vote to Remove Ownership Cap on Local TV Stations

The Federal Communications Commission has announced that it will conduct a vote to แกรมมี่ remove the ownership limit that restricts local television stations.

The current cap, set by law, prohibits companies from owning local TV stations whose combined reach extends to more than 39 percent of the U.S. population. “In place техническом, the FCC will replace the national cap with a granular, case‑by‑case review,” the commission’s statement read, “empowering the agency to approve transactions that serve the public interest while rejecting those that do not meet that standard.”

In an op‑ed on the right‑wing outlet Breitbart, Chairman Brendan Carr argued that lifting the cap would rebalance power between station owners and larger media conglomerates—including national networks, streaming services, and social‑media platforms. “The 39‑percent cap continues to apply uniquely to the owners of local broadcast TV stations, creating an imbalancedurchase market,” Carr wrote. “Today, the cap protects neither local broadcasters nor their competitors, depriving them of the scale that others enjoy.”

The removal of the cap would benefit major station owners such as Nexstar, whose merger with Tegna would bring the company’s reach to 80 percent of U.S. TV households, and Sinclair,retailed speculated to expand through a potential acquisition of E.W. Scripps. Nexstar issued a statement supporting the cap’s elimination following the FCC’s announcement.

Although the cap has allowed some flexibility—for example, permitting owners to hold multiple stations in the same market under certain conditions and granting a “UHF discount” that counts only half of an ultra‑high‑frequency station’s reach—the rule has also relied on shared‑services agreements that let one operator run another company’s outlet without formal ownership.

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