FCC Reinstates Prior Changes to its Media Ownership Rules

Posted on June 30th, 2021 by

The FCC has reinstated the 2017 changes to its ownership after the US Supreme Court unanimously reversed a Third Circuit decision rejecting the rule changes.  In an administrative action, the FCC’s Order eliminated the Newspaper/Broadcast Cross-Ownership Rule, the Radio/Television Cross-Ownership Rule, and the Television Joint Sales Agreement Attribution Rule.  Other minor revisions to the Local Television Ownership Rule and Local Radio Ownership Rule were also reinstated, as were the eligible entity standard adopted in the 2017 Order and the regulatory measures adopted in the Incubator Order.

In conjunction with the reinstatement order, the FCC asked for updates to the record of the 2018 Quadrennial Regulatory Review, which had been on hold while the litigation was pending.