FCC proposed to modify Media Ownership rules.

[CubsFan79 34]

I can't see owning Two top 4 stations in big city markets like LA, New York, Miami, Seattle, Chicago ,Denver, Dallas etc Smaller markets in certain cities maybe. The FCC/NAB want to change a two decades plus outdated rule. Could we see more duopolies if the Supreme Court rules for the FCC. Gone are the days of the mom and pop TV stations

[Megatron81 50]

I think a lot of these rules are outdated and I hope that the FCC rules for the NAB & the FCC.

[CubsFan79 34]

I'm surprised duopolies between the top four tv stations did not happen before the 1990's. The advent of Cable TV, internet, FOX, CNN,MSNBC have changed platform of TV.

[dman748 1,099]

There 2 significances of importance here by virture of SCOTUS taking up this case and in the short term this affects both Scripps and Meredith.

 

1. This may reduce the number of stations Scripps would have to divest in the Ion deal not quite all the way down to zero stations but it may not be all 23 Ion stations being divested to INYO Broadcast Holdings, in fact there's a chance depending upon the ruiling from SCOTUS that INYO may only walk away with anywhere from 15 to 20 stations and Scripps hanging onto a few more stations than expected.

 

2. For Meredith since NBCO is impacted here, this may impact how Meredith ultimately decide what makes sense for them as a company whether they decide to ultimately split or by virture of the NBCO being elimated, being able to sell the company whole.

 

Although my own counter argument to that would be that for Meredith it may not even matter what SCOTUS rules on the deregulation moves, they may decide to eventually split up into 2 irrespective of whatever decision SCOTUS makes.

 

That's the short term implications of this news, I'll reserve the long term effects for Speculation 9000.

[CircleSeven 1,331]

4 minutes ago, oknewsguy said:

There 2 significances of importance here by virture of SCOTUS taking up this case and in the short term this affects both Scripps and Meredith.

 

2. For Meredith since NBCO is impacted here, this may impact how Meredith ultimately decide what makes sense for them as a company whether they decide to ultimately split or by virture of the NBCO being elimated, being able to sell the company whole.

 

Meredith doesn't have any local daily newspapers. They have national magazines. Magazines doesn't count in the NBCO rule.

[dman748 1,099]

2 minutes ago, CircleSeven said:

 

Meredith doesn't have any local daily newspapers. They have national magazines. Magazines doesn't count in the NBCO rule.

So Meredith isn't even a factor in this at least from the NBCO perspective then, got it,

[ABC 7 Denver 896]

6 hours ago, CubsFan79 said:

I can't see owning Two top 4 stations in big city markets like LA, New York, Miami, Seattle, Chicago ,Denver, Dallas etc Smaller markets in certain cities maybe. The FCC/NAB want to change a two decades plus outdated rule. Could we see more duopolies if the Supreme Court rules for the FCC. Gone are the days of the mom and pop TV stations

 

And given the SSAs, we may just see Sinclair and Cunningham each control two Big 4 in a market (with Cunningham seeding control to Sinclair, of course).

[scrabbleship 395]

6 hours ago, oknewsguy said:

So Meredith isn't even a factor in this at least from the NBCO perspective then, got it,

 

The company with the most teeth in an NBCO repeal would be Hearst. They're the last TV company of size with considerable newspaper holdings and in a way this could be one of the things that holds them back from expansion as a Hearst buy of most companies would have at least one conflict with a newspaper. Hearst is one of the few companies also openly playing both sides of the political spectrum so if they push this saying that the survival of a 130+ year old company is at stake, who would dare say no?

 

NPG might be the other considering their aborted attempt to buy KQTV from Heartland. 

 

1 hour ago, ABC 7 Denver said:

 

And given the SSAs, we may just see Sinclair and Cunningham each control two Big 4 in a market (with Cunningham seeding control to Sinclair, of course).

 

Wouldn't this require a vacuum of conditions that just couldn't exist unless the entire industry caved, and if it did Sinclair (and Nexstar) would be the most at risk?

[CubsFan79 34]

We also saw the attempt when GRAY TV a few years ago tried to buy KGWC TV, only to be denied by the DOJ and FCC. GRAY did buy KDLT while owning KSFY TV. What happened if Mission Broadcasting bought KDLT instead? What kind of ruling would the FCC have made then?

[TheOneManHerd 448]

Simpler times.

Edited October 5, 2020 by TheOneManHerd

[CubsFan79 34]

7 minutes ago, TheOneManHerd said:

Simpler times.

A little SNL and school rock humor. I like it.

[CircleSeven 1,331]

Looks like January 19 will be the date for oral arguments.

[CircleSeven 1,331]

Here's the audio of the oral arguments from yesterday (1/19).

[ABC 7 Denver 896]

11 hours ago, CircleSeven said:

Here's the audio of the oral arguments from yesterday (1/19).

 

Fascinating... I agree with the latter's oral argument. It seems that the FCC hasn't captured or analyzed data and that their effort to deregulate without data supporting the increased minority and female ownership pre-regulation nor to support that supposition post-deregulation is troubling. It also seems that the FCC simply has no tool at their disposal to assess those aspects and that their effort to deregulate will lead toward potential harm. I, personally, feel like the Court should issue an injunction until an exhibit can be presented that will demonstrate the effects of the FCC's argument that deregulation will improve minority and female ownership within the context of the larger timetable of pre-deregulation statistics specifying minority and female ownership since the policy's codification. Until such a time, however, it seems that the FCC's argument is speculative conjecture at best and specious at worse. Lastly, I won't pretend to know what legal remedies, especially toward assessment, are available to the Court. This is my two-cents.

Edited January 20 by ABC 7 Denver