FCC Position on JSAs Contrary to Congress, Nexstar, Media General Say
The FCC's position that joint sales agreements involved in transactions aren't considered eligible for grandfathering is “contrary” to the will of Congress and the agency's own precedent, Media General and its proposed buyer Nexstar said in a joint filing in…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
opposition to petitions to deny filed against the deal by Cox Communications, Dish Network and public interest groups. “The petitions filed in this proceeding should be dismissed or denied,” Nexstar and Media General said. Even if the FCC won't allow the JSAs involved in the deal to be grandfathered, the FCC should grant waivers allowing them to continue because they're “demonstrably in the public interest,” Nexstar and Media General said. “The efficiencies and economies that the merger will create will make possible investments in programming initiatives that are generally not economically feasible in the small and medium markets in which the combined company will operate." The broadcasters also rejected conditions on retransmission consent deals suggested by Dish and other opponents of the transaction. The conditions would “violate congressional intent by seeking to dictate the outcome of retransmission consent negotiations,” the combining companies said. The FCC should reject "petitioners' blatant attempts to end-run the rule-making process via this adjudicatory proceeding,” Nexstar and Media General said in the filing posted Friday in docket 16-57.