DC Circuit Rejects Stolz Appeal of FCC Entercom Decision
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected an appeal by Edward Stolz of a 2015 FCC decision affirming the FCC Media Bureau’s denial of his appeal of a ruling that led to a Sacramento station owned by…
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Stolz being sold to Entercom, in a ruling (in Pacer) released Friday. The proceeding stems from an agreement to transfer Stolz’s station to Entercom that soured, said Circuit Judge Patricia Millett, who authored the court’s opinion. “Stolz and Entercom have spent the ensuing two decades clashing before the FCC and state and federal courts,” Millett wrote. “This long-running dispute should draw closer to a conclusion today,” Millett said. The court opinion affirms arguments by Stolz that the FCC and Media Bureau shouldn’t have rejected some of his previous appeals, and castigates the agency for taking 10 years to rule on his appeal to the full commission of the Media Bureau’s initial ruling, and then arguing that he should have made supplemental filings in the proceeding earlier. “This is hardly the case for the FCC to be pointing a non-jurisdictional timeliness finger at others,” the opinion said. Though the FCC was wrong about Stolz’s procedural arguments, his arguments that the FCC erred were incorrect, the court ruled. “While Stolz wins that procedural battle, he loses the war,” Millett said. The transfer of the station didn’t go against FCC rules, and Stolz’s argument that later rule changes would have put Entercom over ownership limits in Sacramento is moot since Entercom turned in the license of its Sacramento station KDND (see 1702030074), the court said. Stolz and Entercom didn't comment.