FCC publishes text of Notice on its broadcast ownership rules

by Matthew Lasar Jul 24 2006 - 11:00pm Media Ownership

Public has until September 22nd to comment, and until November 21st to reply to comments

Following up on its June 21st pledge to launch another public comment cycle on its broadcast ownership rules, the Federal Communications Commission yesterday released a new Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on the controversial matter. The Notice asks for feedback on how to revise the rules, given a Federal courts rejection of the FCCs last attempt to change them.

"We encourage commenters to buttress their arguments with current empirical evidence and sound economic theory," the document says.

In 2003 the FCC dramatically revised its media ownership rules, allowing corporations to own more TV stations in the same market, expanding the percentage of U.S. TV households a media corporation could reach from 35% to 45%, and making it easier for a corporation to cross-own TV stations, newspapers, and radio stations in the same market.

Media activists took the decision to court. In 2004 in Prometheus Project vs. FCC, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals declared that the Commissions methodology, which assumed a rough equality between Internet and traditional media sources, made no sense. The court argued that the FCCs "Diversity Index" (DI)â€”used to assess the range of choices media consumers have in any given localityâ€”"gave too much weight to the Internet as a media outlet," in its assessment of the impact of traditional broadcast consolidation on local media diversity.

The FCC is now attempting to revise its rules in response to Prometheus.

"In light of the courtâ€™s extensive and detailed criticism of the DI, we tentatively conclude that the DI is an inaccurate tool for measuring diversity," the Notice concedes. "Moreover, we recognize that some aspects of diversity may be difficult to quantify. To the extent that we will not use the DI to justify changes to the existing cross-ownership rules, we seek comment on how we should approach cross-ownership limits."

In its June 21st statement, the commission promised an unusually long comment period for its media ownership questions: 120 days. The clock now begins on that cycle. The Notice offers the public 60 days to comment, and until November 21 to reply to comments. The FCC also says that it will schedule a series of public hearings on the matter.