A bid to keep the national TV ownership cap on ice is drawing a pointed rebuttal from broadcasting’s trade association, and radio operators waiting on rule changes of their own are watching closely, with the 2022 Quadrennial Review results remaining in limbo.
Ten state cable and broadband associations asked the FCC on October 2 to stay its repeal of the national TV ownership cap while they challenge the decision in court. NAB filed its opposition on October 9, arguing the petitioners have not shown the irreparable harm a stay requires.
The petition rests largely on retransmission consent costs, which NAB calls speculative. Any rate changes, the filing says, would follow only after a deal is proposed, reviewed, and approved, and would typically wait until the next multiyear carriage negotiation. NAB also notes that the repeal is not yet operative, since it takes effect 60 days after publication in the Federal Register, and publication has not happened.
On the legal question, NAB says the FCC has held for more than a decade, under both Republican and Democratic chairs, that it can alter the national audience reach cap. NAB wrote in its filing, “Petitioners’ arguments, however, are more of a wish list and instead badly misread the statute’s text and the legislative activity around the 2004 CAA.”
The association also takes on the petitioners’ major questions doctrine argument. NAB stated, “This argument is nonsensical and may indeed be an AI hallucination.”
NAB argues the public interest favors denying the stay, citing the FCC’s finding that the cap may be undermining localism, not protecting it. NAB commented, “The public, moreover, does not benefit from the continuance of outmoded rules that impair overall marketplace competition generally and broadcast TV stations specifically.”
Radio’s ownership limits continue to be weighed in a separate proceeding. The FCC reopened the 2022 Quadrennial Review in September 2025, with few details emerging from the Commission since.
In July, Radio Ink reported that NAB used its TV cap meeting with FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty to also press for relief on radio’s local limits, which have not changed since 1996. NAB wants no limits in markets ranked 76 and below, and in the top 75 markets, up to eight FM stations per owner with no cap on AM.
