Station groups have come out in support of Federal Communication Commission’s planned move to loosen ownership rules.
“Localism and local journalism will be greatly enhanced by allowing broadcast station owners to combine duplicative resources, and our local consumers will benefit if stations have the scale necessary to compete with massive distribution and technology companies who don’t share our local values and mandates,” said Dave Lougee, president and CEO of Tegna.
“The FCC’s proposed rulemaking takes an important step forward in re-writing outdated local media ownership rules and modernizing regulations to allow the local broadcast industry to compete on equal footing. We believe these proposed actions will encourage new investment to support job creation, increased local programming production and greater public service,” said Nexstar president and CEO Perry Sook.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai also said Wednesday that he wants to eliminate rules that limit one company from owning both newspapers and TV stations in one market.
Critics say dropping the rules will encourage media consolidation and hurt diversity.
A vote is scheduled for November.