No Hard, or Fast, Rules (Broadcasting & Cable editorial re FCC newspaper/broadcast ownership rules)

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The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has finally had it with the FCC’s timetable for producing, or in this case not producing, regulatory certainty in its mediaownership rules. The court last week lifted its stay on the FCC’s modest deregulatory revision of the rules, and said it would hear arguments from both industry leaders and activists on why they opposed that change.

When the FCC decided in 2007 to only loosen the newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership rules, it was a decision that seemed to please nobody. Broadcasters and newspaper owners said it was not enough relief from a regime that prevented them from getting together to survive and hopefully prosper with combined resources and cost-saving synergies. Media consolidation foes complained that even so modest a deregulation proposal was too much.

It has been almost 2½ years, and broadcasters still don’t know where they stand. The new FCC majority doesn’t seem to like the 2007 decision either, and now the court has compelled it to act.

With the stay lifted, broadcasters have a window of opportunity to combine with newspapers in the top 20 markets, but only those with a single property. The FCC or the court could eventually overturn the loosened rules, but broadcasters who buy now would likely get to keep their new combos, unless the FCC conditioned the purchase on the court’s eventual decision on the challenges.

Read more: http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/450832-Editorial_No_Hard_or_Fast_Rules.php