Chairman s Statement on the Status of Media Ownership Proceeding

NEWS

Federal Communications Commission

News Media Information 202 / 418-0500

445 12th Street, S.W.

Internet: http://www.fcc.gov

Washington, D. C. 20554

TTY: 1-888-835-5322

This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action. Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action.

See MCI v. FCC. 515 F 2d 385 (D.C. Circ 1974).

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

NEWS MEDIA CONTACT:

February 26, 2013

Justin Cole, 202-418-8191

Email: Justin.Cole@fcc.gov

STATEMENT FROM FCC CHAIRMAN JULIUS GENACHOWSKI ON THE STATUS OF

MEDIA OWNERSHIP PROCEEDING

In light of proposal by the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council to conduct new

independent study

Washington, D.C. The following statement is attributable to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski:

Yesterday, the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council informed the Commission that

it will conduct a focused, independent study on the effects of cross-ownership rules on minority

ownership and newsgathering, in order to enhance the record in the Commission's proceeding. The study

is expected to take several weeks and will be filed with the Commission, after which MMTC suggests

that the agency solicit public input, to be followed by a Commission vote. In this heavily-litigated area

where a strong record is particularly important, I believe this is a sensible approach to moving forward

and resolving the issues raised in this proceeding.

As the Commission considers the issues before it, a few goals are particularly important:

guarding against excessive media consolidation, promoting ownership diversity, enabling robust local

news for all communities, and fostering economic growth and opportunity. The growth of the Internet is

changing the media landscape, including the economics of local newspapers and broadcasters. At the

same time, while broadband adoption is increasing, tens of millions of Americans do not yet have ready

access to news and other content available on the Internet, and changes in ownership rules may have

different effects on those with or without Internet access.

With this in mind, earlier in the Commission's quadrennial review of its broadcast ownership

rules, I circulated a draft order for my colleagues consideration that would primarily preserve existing

ownership rules while proposing steps to promote media diversity and modest reforms that could help

strengthen local journalism. I proposed to (1) keep the bulk of existing broadcast ownership rules in place,

including the rules limiting the number of TV and radio stations that can be co-owned in any market, and

the rules prohibiting ownership of more than one major broadcast network; (2) provide various diversity-

promoting broadcast opportunities for small businesses and proceed with studies to determine whether

additional measures can be taken in the next quadrennial review to promote minority ownership; (3)

retain the rule prohibiting TV-newspaper combinations, while providing greater transparency and

predictability on waivers, in a way that would strengthen the bar against major TV station-newspaper

combinations, and reduce the bar to smaller TV station-newspaper combinations in the top 20 markets;

and (4) remove the bar on cross-ownership of radio stations and newspapers. Circulation of the proposed

order has led to healthy discussions among Commissioners and stakeholders about the substance of the

issues and the state of the record before the agency. The study announced yesterday addresses an issue of

importance, will augment the record, and will assist the Commission in resolving the issues before it on

the full record.

In addition, a broad coalition of stakeholders has asked the Commission to clarify that foreign

investment above 25 percent in broadcast stations could be in the public interest in particular cases.

Today, the FCC's Media Bureau is issuing a Public Notice seeking comment on this issue.

-FCC-

LINK:	http://www.fcc.gov/document/chairmans-statement-status-media-ownership...
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