FCC scraps the 39% cap on TV station ownership

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted 2-1 on Thursday to remove a regulation that restricted how many US households one broadcaster could reach.

The FCC is moving away from the cap in favor of a case-by-case review process, potentially paving the way for a new wave of media consolidation, according to NBC News.

Chairman Brendan Carr championed the rollback, stating that the move will help local TV avoid the decline seen in newspapers. It gives them financial resources and leverage to make shows while resisting national network influence.

Congress established a 39% ceiling on the share of the US audience that a company’s broadcast stations could reach.

Carr, a Republican, has long argued that there is liberal bias in broadcast television. He recently threatened to revoke TV licenses of ABC, NBC and CBS.

In an opinion piece in Breitbart, he said that if local TV stations consolidated, they could reject shows from Comcast or Disney.

The regulatory change delivers a major victory to broadcast giants like Nexstar, which already reaches nearly 39% of American households and previously saw its $3.54 billion acquisition of rival Tegna frozen by a federal court due to antitrust litigation.

FCC’s new decisions may face legal challenges.