Media Bureau Seeks Comment on Broadcast Foreign Ownership Limits
The FCC Media Bureau solicited comments on a letter from the Coalition for Broadcast Investment (CBI) that asked the commission to loosen its foreign ownership restrictions on broadcast licensees. The CBI includes companies such as Disney, Clear Channel, CBS, Hearst, Univision and groups such as the National Association of Black County Officials, National Black Chamber of Congress, and Minority Media and Telecommunications Council. The coalition asked in August that the FCC clarify that it will conduct case-by-case evaluations of proposals for foreign investment in broadcast holding companies that exceed a 25 percent stake.
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The public notice was expected (CD Feb 1 p3), as the agency’s members are deadlocked still on media-ownership rules. (See separate report in this issue.) FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski noted the coalition that sought the waivers was “broad,” in a written statement Tuesday putting off a vote on the media ownership rules (http://bit.ly/YVVteg).
Commissioner Ajit Pai said he’s pleased to see the bureau soliciting comment. “Our current policy on foreign ownership investment as applied to the broadcast industry is anachronistic, illogical and bad for minority ownership,” he said (http://bit.ly/WdYOKY). He said he hoped the FCC will take quick action on the issue after the comment cycle closes. Comments are due April 15, replies April 30 in docket 13-50, the public notice said (http://bit.ly/128PvOM).
The coalition said commission action on its proposal could help broadcasters get access to capital on the same terms as their counterparts in the rest of communication industry. “Access to capital is essential to a vibrant, competitive broadcast sector,” said communications lawyer Mace Rosenstein of Covington & Burling, which represents the coalition.
The public notice is a step toward making it easier for minority broadcasters to raise the money to finance broadcast transactions, said Rosenstein and Minority and Media Telecommunications Council President David Honig. “Today’s action is consistent with the FCC’s long trajectory of initiatives designed to remove barriers to capital access for minority broadcasters,” Honig said. MMTC successfully sought the delay in a media ownership vote.
The commission considered loosening the foreign ownership restrictions in 1995, but decided it was too soon to take such a step, the coalition said in its August letter. “The technological and commercial revolution that was only beginning in 1995 has matured within the space of a generation,” the coalition said. “There is no basis in fact or law for continuing to impose and ad hoc ban on even the consideration of indirect foreign investment above the statutory benchmark in broadcast licenses.”