NCTA Wants More Transparency for Top-4 Waivers
NCTA wants the FCC to seek comment on future broadcaster requests for waiver of the top-four ownership prohibition with stand-alone, transaction-specific public notices, rather than burying the notice in lists of other proceedings, the MVPD group said in an ex…
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parte letter posted in docket 18-349 Thursday. NCTA pointed to a Media Bureau order in June granting a request for such a waiver from Imagicomm Greenwood, which noted that the application was unopposed. “This is not surprising, given that the Commission did not expressly seek comment on the applicant’s request for waiver of the Top-4 Rule,” NCTA said. “Rather, the Commission included these applications on a 31-page Public Notice along with 154 other items even though Top-4 waiver applications are not run-of-the-mill requests routinely included in general public notices.” When it adopted the waiver process in 2017, the FCC said the case-by-case review would allow affected parties to “advance any relevant concerns,” NCTA said. A stand-alone, transaction-specific notice would better comport with the prior commission’s assurances, the group said.