A particularly pleased Chairman Brendan Carr presided over his first FCC Open Meeting with a working Republican majority on Thursday, as Commissioner Olivia Trusty officially took her seat, restoring a quorum and giving his deregulatory agenda the go-ahead.
The commission’s most notable action was its first step into “Delete, Delete, Delete” territory with the adoption of a Report and Order removing cable rate regulations dating back to the 1992 Cable Act.
“We’re picking up on the good work of prior commissions, from Chairman [Ajit] Pai’s work in 2018 to tee up a lot of the ideas here,” said Carr. “With this one vote, we’re getting rid of 77 rules or requirements, eliminating eight forms, and closing out several dockets – ultimately removing 27 pages and over 11,000 words from our rule books.”
Commissioner Trusty emphasized, “President Trump has prioritized deregulatory initiatives that will help reduce red tape, unleash innovation, and promote prosperity,” she said. “Rules that may have served a worthwhile purpose in decades past are no longer necessary in today’s video marketplace.”
In a show of bipartisanship, lone Democratic Commissioner Anna Gomez acknowledged the new rules as, “a great example of where reduced regulation benefits everyone,” but don’t expect that to be her stance for every vote over the next several months.
In comments following the meeting, Carr made clear that the “Delete, Delete, Delete” initiative is serious business. “We’re going to continue to execute on the agenda that we’ve laid out,” Carr said, addressing the agency’s recent notice opening the door to changes in broadcast ownership caps.
While Carr stopped short of endorsing a specific policy outcome, his framing of the ownership debate as a matter of “local empowerment” drew criticism from FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, who warned the move would favor large conglomerates at the expense of independent outlets.
“This FCC proposal to unleash a new era of unregulated media consolidation is only about helping the largest broadcast companies grow even larger,” said Gomez during her Q&A session. “We need a scalpel, not a chainsaw.”
The FCC’s next open meeting is scheduled for July 24.
It took me a little while to read all of the comments, but I found the article to be quite intriguing.
This will finally start to level the playing field as radio stations face the unregulated goliaths of Google, Facebook and YouTube. Audiences have been reduced by Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music and many others. Many local bricks-and-mortar retailers were wiped out by Amazon and COVID and lifting ownership caps will allow radio the consolidation necessary to survive in today’s marketplace.
You can be fairly certain that anything the Trump administration wants will benefit the 1%. And nobody else.
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