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FCC Releases Notice of Inquiry Launching the 2010 Ownership Review

June 02, 2010
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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has formally launched the 2010 Quadrennial Regulatory Review of its broadcast ownership rules by adopting a Notice of Inquiry (“NOI”). The 2010 review is the fifth such statutorily-mandated review since passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Five of the Commission’s ownership rules are the subject of the review: (1) the local TV ownership rule; (2) the local radio ownership rule; (3) the newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rule; (4) the radio/TV cross-ownership rule, and (5) the dual network rule. The information obtained from comments filed in response to the NOI will be used by the Commission to formulate a subsequent Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that will make specific proposals for revisions to the ownership rules.

The NOI asks a series of questions in an effort to define the “analytical framework” and “scope of the proceeding.” The first set of questions relates to three primary policy goals that the Commission has used to implement its public interest authority – the promotion of competition, localism and diversity. The NOI inquires how these three goals should be defined in the context of the latest ownership review and how the FCC should proceed to examine each goal. The Commission also asks whether there are potential conflicts between the three policy goals and whether and how the FCC should weigh the goals in the event that such conflicts arise. Further, the FCC asks commenters to consider whether additional policy goals besides the promotion of competition, localism and diversity should inform the ownership review.

The NOI also asks for specific comment on how each of the five ownership rules “affects the local market structure and in turn impacts the Commission’s policy goals.” The FCC asks for “specific analytical frameworks for linking the ownership rules to the policy goals . . . and measuring the impact of the rules on the policy goals.” To the extent that commenters believe a rule does not further the FCC’s policy goals, the NOI asks those parties to propose specific modifications to those rules. Commenters are requested to provide empirical evidence supporting their arguments and explain how their approaches would affect the various stakeholders including end users, advertisers, content creators and platform owners.

Finally, the FCC seeks comment on whether to expand the ownership review to include an examination of digital contours and the National Broadband Plan. With respect to contours, the FCC notes that several of its ownership rules rely on the use of television analog contours. The NOI inquires whether the FCC should use digital contours in a similar fashion and if so, how digital contours should be used in situations where there is no digital counterpart to the analog predecessor (e.g., Grade A contours do not exist in digital). With respect to the National Broadband Plan, the FCC seeks comment on what, if any, aspects of the Plan are relevant to the ownership review, whether it should matter that consumers are increasingly getting information from mobile devices and whether the Commission’s policy goal to foster mobile services should impact media ownership rules.

We would be pleased to respond to any questions regarding these matters.

The FCC also seeks comment on whether it has any authority to evaluate the national television multiple ownership rule, which was excluded from the quadrennial review process by Congress in 2004.