Broadcast Execs Hopeful for Deregulation While Carr Promises Scrutiny
Broadcast executives during Q3 earnings calls were hopeful for ownership deregulation and progress on ATSC 3.0 from a Republican-controlled FCC, but FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr -- the perceived front-runner to chair the agency -- said Thursday that scrutinizing broadcasters is among his priorities. “We're very excited about the upcoming regulatory environment,” said Sinclair Broadcast CEO Chris Ripley during Sinclair’s call Wednesday. “It feels like a cloud over the industry is lifting ... and ... some much-needed modernization of the regulations will be forthcoming.” In a news release Thursday, Carr said when the transition to the next administration is complete “the FCC will have an important role to play reining in Big Tech, ensuring that broadcasters operate in the public interest, and unleashing economic growth while advancing our national security interests and supporting law enforcement.”
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Executives at Nexstar, Gray Television, Sinclair and iHeartMedia said they expected more pro-business policies and an openness toward deregulation from the next administration. Local and national deregulation of broadcast ownership is “the No. 1 legislative priority” of Nexstar and NAB, said Nexstar CEO Perry Sook on an earnings call Thursday. “The time is now to seek this reform,” he said, adding that Nexstar has established a government relations presence in Washington to push for rule changes. Sook and others highlighted the national broadcast ownership cap, the top-four prohibition, and the simulcast requirement for ATSC 3.0 as policies they hope to see movement on. The scope of what rules should change may be affected by ongoing court cases concerning the bounds of FCC authority, such as litigation over the 2018 quadrennial review, Gray Television Chief Legal and Development Officer Kevin Latek said during Gray’s call. “We see a deregulatory FCC coming, but I don’t think we're really in a position to be handicapping specific policy issues right now.”
Said Sook, “There is a general sense that a Republican administration will be better for business than a Democratic administration would have been.” Similarly, iHeartMedia CEO Robert Pittman said on iHeart’s earnings call, “The sense you hear from the election, regardless your political belief, is people think this is very good for business.”
While Carr is seen as favoring broadcast deregulation, his recent vocal support for a series of FCC complaints against broadcast networks and his statement Thursday could indicate a shift in his plans. The release lists policing broadcasters immediately after “reigning in Big Tech,” which has long been viewed as Carr’s top priority. In the chapter of the Project 2025 plan in which Carr lays out his plans for a Republican FCC, “reigning in Big Tech” is the first of four main goals listed and is a large part of the chapter. Loosening media ownership rules is mentioned in just a single sentence in the penultimate paragraph. Ensuring that broadcasters operate in the public interest isn’t mentioned. On Friday, Carr repeated his criticisms of Audacy’s foreign-ownership waiver in an X post, calling it “a special and unprecedented waiver.” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has said the grant was in line with a number of similar FCC decisions.
NAB didn't comment Friday, but the trade group congratulated Trump on his victory Thursday. "Local television and radio stations are committed to working with the next administration on policies that will enable increased investment in local journalism, emergency information, sports and entertainment on which our communities rely," said a statement from NAB CEO Curtis LeGeyt. “NAB will continue its bipartisan work with policymakers to strengthen this free, local service that is essential to our democracy.”
Broadcasters “aren’t the most beloved entities at the moment,” said former FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly in a post on X Friday. Loosening ownership regulations would be “a heavy lift needing lots of leadership on [the Republican] side that seems dubious now.” Broadcast attorneys have told us they see the threats from Trump's and Carr’s statements as targeting the broadcast networks rather than station groups. Companies such as Sinclair and Salem Media are widely seen as conservative-leaning and feature broadcast personalities who have vocally supported Trump.
Sinclair’s Ripley said that even without further deregulation, a Republican administration would be a boon to broadcasters. Ownership rules were significantly loosened under the previous FCC and Chairman Ajit Pai but were tied up in litigation for most of his administration, Ripley said. Since the current FCC hasn’t interpreted those rules in ways favorable to broadcasters, a Republican administration could be a positive shift simply by “adjudicating the rules as they currently stand,” he said. Waivers allowing ownership of two top-four stations in the same market could be easier to access under the next administration, Sook said. “We really haven't lived in a world where even the current rules have been in effect, or at least followed by the FCC,” Ripley said. He added that he’s hopeful for “further relief” as well, and that the current rules don’t create a level playing field with big tech. “I think the Republican Party understands that."