Pai Has Harsh Words For His Colleagues

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FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai was one of the two dissenting votes in the FCC’s Media Ownership Rules vote that was officially filed Thursday. Pai says that the Commission failed to reassess its media ownership regulations every four years and dispose of outdated rules, as instructed by Congress. “The Commission has thumbed its nose at Congress for the past eight-and-a-half years by refusing to complete a single quadrennial review. What took us so long? Based on the ‘substance’ of this Order, I have no idea, for the agency essentially does nothing but stick its head in the sand.”

Pai says the changes to the media marketplace since the FCC adopted the Newspaper-Broadcast Cross-Ownership Rule in 1975 have been revolutionary. “Over the last four decades, newspaper circulation and advertising revenue have plummeted, and hundreds of publications have gone out of business. The Internet has become the go-to source for news. National and regional cable news networks have flourished. The days of Americans waiting for the morning newspaper to learn about what is going on around them are long gone. Yet, instead of repealing the Newspaper-Broadcast Cross-Ownership Rule to account for the massive changes in how Americans receive news and information, we cling to it. And over the near-decade since the FCC last finished a ‘quadrennial’ review, the video marketplace has transformed dramatically. Especially with the rise of over-the-top video, the market is now more competitive than ever. Never before have Americans been able to choose from such a wide array of content. They now demand to view that content when they want and on the device of their choice. And high-profile news is increasingly made and distributed on online video networks that didn’t even exist just a few years ago. Yet, instead of loosening the Local Television Ownership Rule to account for the increasing competition to broadcast television stations, we actually tighten that regulation. And instead of updating the Local Radio Ownership Rule, the Radio-Television Cross-Ownership Rule, and the Dual Network Rule, we merely rubber-stamp them.”

Read Pai’s entire 14-page dissenting opinion HERE

2 COMMENTS

  1. Are all members of Congress issued psychotropic drugs? If so, are they aware of this? If not, do they care? America’s neighbors have a stake in all this.

  2. Because consolidation has served radio so well… Let’s continue to allow companies to purchase even more properties when they have already acquired and stripped so many of what made them successful, practically destroying an entire industry along the way.

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