UHF Discount Opponents Haven't Shown Standing, Say FCC, Broadcasters

oral argument last month, but allowed the anti-consolidation groups to file supplementary information last week (see 1805090075). Those supplemental filings weren’t sufficient, the FCC said Wednesday, showing the anti-consolidation groups never believed their initial filings were enough. “Petitioners’ belated submission of hundreds of pages of declarations, following a court order, demonstrates it was unreasonable for petitioners to have previously believed their standing was obvious,” the agency said. Most of the petitioners’ supplemental filings “are founded on speculation about the effects of proposed broadcast acquisitions” that the FCC has yet to rule on, and the rest “don’t establish standing at the time petitioners brought suit,” the commission said. Broadcast intervenors including Ion, Nexstar, Sinclair and Univision responded (in Pacer) to the petitioners Wednesday, along with a motion (in Pacer) asking the court to allow their filing. No supplemental filings “allege a certain and concrete injury” traceable to restoration of the UHF discount, the intervenors said. The groups’ instead focus on injuries caused by Sinclair’s purchase of Bonten Media or planned buy of Tribune, the intervenors said. The petitioners’ “purported injuries resulting from Sinclair’s proposed acquisition of multiple stations in the same market” aren’t caused by the reinstated discount, since even without the discount, companies can own multiple stations in a market, the intervenors said.