As previewed by Commissioner Nathan Simington at the NAB State Leadership Conference, the FCC is opening the floodgates to mass deregulation of the broadcasting industry under the mantra of “Delete, Delete, Delete.”
The FCC has opened a public comment period as part of a broad effort aimed at identifying and eliminating what it describes as unnecessary or outdated regulations within the communications industry. The initiative aligns with a series of executive orders issued by President Trump, directing administrative agencies to reassess their regulatory frameworks and promote economic growth by reducing burdens on businesses.
The FCC’s notice invites public feedback on specific rules that may no longer serve their intended purpose or may be hindering technological advancements, competition, or investment in communications infrastructure. The Commission is particularly interested in hearing from industry stakeholders about rules that disproportionately impact small businesses, create barriers to market entry, or have become obsolete due to changes in technology and the media marketplace.
“The Commission possesses a duty to evaluate its policies over time to ascertain whether they work – that is, whether they actually produce the benefits the Commission originally predicted they would,” the FCC stated in the notice.
The agency has outlined several key areas for review, including:
- Cost-Benefit Analysis: The FCC is examining whether certain regulations impose more costs than benefits on businesses and whether eliminating or modifying these rules could lead to better economic outcomes.
- Market and Technological Changes: With rapid advancements in digital communications, broadband, and broadcasting, the FCC seeks to identify rules that have become outdated or unnecessary.
- Barriers to Entry: The Commission is analyzing whether regulations place a disproportionate burden on smaller firms, limiting competition and innovation.
- Legal and Constitutional Concerns: The FCC is considering whether some regulations conflict with recent judicial rulings, including the Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision, which overturned the Chevron deference framework that had previously granted agencies significant leeway in interpreting statutes.
- Regulatory Redundancy: The agency is also reviewing whether existing FCC rules overlap with broader federal, state, or industry self-regulatory measures, potentially creating unnecessary compliance burdens.
For broadcasters, this review could signal significant changes to long-standing regulations that impact ownership rules, content policies, and licensing requirements. The NAB has welcomed the news, as the organization recently started a mass public awareness campaign tied to loosening ownership caps on radio and television broadcasters.
NAB SVP of Communications Alex Siciliano told Radio Ink, “We applaud Chairman [Brendan] Carr for taking a deep dive into the many rules and regulations that no longer serve any meaningful public interest purpose and only hamper broadcasters’ ability to compete. Chief among them are the outdated ownership rules – both the national TV ownership cap and the local radio and TV ownership rules – that must be reformed as soon as possible. Without those changes, local journalism will struggle to compete in this era of Big Tech and streaming dominance.”
Interested parties have 30 days from the notice’s release to submit comments to the FCC, with a subsequent 15-day period for reply comments.
The FCC has emphasized that any proposed rule changes will be evaluated based on their potential impact on the industry, consumers, and overall market competition. The review process is expected to take several months, with the Commission likely issuing further notices and proposed rule changes based on the feedback received.
From the tone of the article, the broadcast industry is seeking more of the same…greater consolidation under the guiding hand of those brilliant investment bankers and others who gave us monolithic programming, automation, and a severed connection between broadcaster and listener. If the definition of insanity is repeating the same behavior again and again while nonetheless expecting different results, proposals for raising ownership caps is the insane person’s path that guarantees further irrelevancy.
The commercial big companies no longer have any money to take over the industry.
Amen
The FCC website will populate but will not allow access to menu items. This has been for the last couple days. Just tried again. Left message for Congressperson Tom Tiffany. This is greatly concerning.
It’ll be interesting to see if this actually helps small broadcasters or just makes it easier for big companies to take over the industry