Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the past week, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations.
- Disney/ABC filed a Petition for Declaratory Ruling, at the order of the FCC’s Media Bureau, concerning the status of “The View” as a bona fide news interview program exempt from the FCC’s equal opportunity rules. ABC contended that it was unprecedented for the Bureau to order a licensee to file a Petition for Declaratory Ruling, particularly as ABC received such a ruling from Bureau in 2002 concluding that the View is a bona fide news interview program. As that 2002 ruling has never been modified or repealed, any new petition is unnecessary. ABC’s petition also questions the validity of the Media Bureau’s January Public Notice (which we wrote about on our Broadcast Law Blog here), contending that the Bureau cannot change 40 years of prior FCC precedent that programs are exempt from the equal time rules as bona fide news interview programs exempt from equal time even without an explicit FCC declaratory ruling when, like “The View,” they are regularly scheduled and controlled by the program’s producers and where candidate appearances are chosen based on newsworthiness and not to benefit particular candidates. Citing the FCC’s investigation of whether the February appearance of Democratic Texas Senatorial candidate James Talarico on the “The View” violated the equal time rules (see our note here), ABC also argues that any attempt by the FCC to find that the appearance was contrary to the rules would violate the First Amendment, and that such an action would be prohibited viewpoint discrimination based on the perceived political viewpoints expressed on the program, noting that no similar investigation has been taken against radio stations in Texas who had Republican candidates on the air before the recent Texas primaries.
- FCC Commissioner Gomez called on the FCC to conduct a full review of the foreign ownership interests involved in the proposed Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger. Gomez stated that Paramount’s recent petition to exceed the Communications Act’s foreign ownership limits set out in Section 310(b) (see our note here) raised concerns about the involvement of wealth funds run by foreign governments which have “documented records of press suppression and a troubling willingness to silence journalists.” Absent FCC approval, Section 310(b) prohibits foreign entities, individuals, and governments from holding ownership interests of more than 20% in an FCC licensee and more than 25% in a U.S. entity directly or indirectly controlling an FCC licensee. Gomez asked the FCC to initiate a rigorous review of Paramount’s foreign interests by releasing all related investment agreements, allowing public comment, and coordinating with national security agencies—including CFIUS and the DOJ National Security Division—before ruling on the merger. Gomez noted that multiple members of Congress have also requested that the FCC closely scrutinize Paramount’s proposed foreign interests before any action.
- FCC Chairman Car responded to a letter from Senators Cruz (R-TX) and Cantwell (D-WA) expressing their concerns about the FCC delegating the approval of the Nexstar-TEGNA merger to the Media Bureau (see our note here), writing that the Media Bureau had full authority to approve the transaction. He noted that the Bureau had previously approved similarly sized mergers, and that it had the authority to waive the national TV ownership cap. Carr also stated that the Bureau’s decision was not a final agency action and that parties have already petitioned the full Commission for review of the Bureau’s decision.
- In another ownership decision, the Media Bureau granted the assignments of several TV stations from SagamoreHill and Block Communications to Gray Media, resulting Gray owning 2 full-power TV stations in the Columbus, GA-Opelika, AL DMA and 3 full-power TV stations in the Lubbock, TX and Louisville, KY DMAs. As with its recent approvals of similar TV station assignments (see our notes here, here, here, and here), the Bureau rejected claims that the applicants had to show that the public interest justified owning two stations in a market as no special showing is needed after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit vacated the restriction on owning two top-4 stations in any market (see our article here). The Bureau waived the Local TV Ownership Rule to allow Gray to own 3 stations in the Lubbock and Louisville DMAs finding successful independent ownership of the third stations was unlikely given their low ratings and revenue, and Gray’s common ownership of multiple stations in each market would enhance those stations’ local programming offerings. The Bureau also found that other arguments about the harms from the proposed assignments were speculative.
- The Media and Wireless Telecommunications Bureaus jointly announced the designated Broadcast Auxiliary Service frequency coordinator for the 2026 FIFA World Cup this summer. Frequency coordination periods at each World Cup venue will cover a 5-kilometer radius around the venue and will start 5 days before a venue’s initial match, ending one day after the venue’s last match. The Bureaus will permit low-power auxiliary stations to operate near the venues at power levels not exceeding 1 watt, on TV channels at least 40 kilometers from a TV station on that channel. These actions are like those adopted for other major events such as national political conventions, presidential inaugurations, the Olympic Games, and the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.
On our Broadcast Law Blog, we discussed the impact of the U.S. Department of Justice’s decision to move medical marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III on broadcaster ability to advertise marijuana products.