FCC: Reject appeal of duopoly limits
By Bill McConnell -- Broadcasting & Cable, 6/19/2002 4:00:00 AM
A three-judge panel was correct to retain limits on TV duopolies while the Federal Communications Commission carries out a court-ordered rewrite of the restrictions, agency lawyers said Tuesday.
The lawyers' comments were filed with the court in opposition to Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc.'s request for a rehearing. Sinclair asked the entire lineup of the Federal Appeals Court in Washington, D.C., to rehear the case, which was one in a string of court decisions forcing the FCC to revamp nearly all of its media-ownership rules.
A panel of the court in April upheld the FCC's authority to limit where TV duopolies operate. But the judges also found that the FCC had not justified its test for determining eligible markets. The court took particular aim at the inconsistency between the duopoly threshold, which considers only the number of TV stations in a market, and the threshold for permitting cross-ownership of radio and TV outlets in a market, which counts newspapers and cable, as well as broadcast outlets.
Given that the judges upheld duopoly restrictions in general, the only provision that could be vacated is the measure permitting duoplies in large markets.
"Vacating the exception alone would have accomplished little, leaving the rule more restrictive than necessary," the FCC said.
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