A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected a portion of the Federal Communications Commission’s 2008 rule governing U.S. media ownership, overturning a move by the FCC that made it easier for companies to own broadcast TV stations and daily newspapers in the same market.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third District sent the rules back to the commission to be reworked, reports the Wall Street Journal.
The court said that the agency should have given the public more time to comment on its rules.
The court noted that former FCC Commissioner Kevin Martin had made the announcement about the change in the rules in a New York Times editorial and allowed “only 28 days for response, not the usual 90 days.”
As the Journal notes, it’s unclear in which direction current FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski might take the rules, although when President Obama was a senator he was among 25 senators who opposed the loosening of the ownership restrictions.
The FCC, media companies and public interest advocates have been locked in a decade-long fight in the United States over the question of how much of a local media market companies should be allowed to own.
The commission has been moving to loosen the restrictions in light of the advent of the internet and the proliferation of online media. And broadcasters have been pushing for a loosening of the limits as they struggle financially.
In 2007, the commission voted to allow companies to own both television stations and newspapers in the nation’s largest 20 media markets as long as there were eight media outlets in the market.
The issue has been a political hot potato bedeviling both FCC Chairmen Michael Powell and Kevin Martin, both Republicans, and both whom sought to loosen the restrictions.
But media activists have fought those moves vigorously in court, and on Thursday they applauded the court’s decision.
“Today’s decision is a sweeping victory for the public interest,” Corie Wright, Free Press’ policy counsel said in a statement. “In rejecting the arguments of the industry and exposing the FCC’s failures, the court wisely concluded that competition in the media — not more concentration — will provide Americans with the local news and information they want.”
The National Association of Broadcasters reacted to the news by continuing to push for changes to the ownership rules.
“There have been sweeping changes in the media landscape since most of the broadcast ownership rules were adopted decades ago,” said the NAB’s spokesman Dennis Wharton in a statement. “NAB believes that the modest reform of rules to allow free and local broadcasters to compete successfully in a universe of national pay TV and radio platforms is warranted.”
