FCC challenges Rainbow standing in suit
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/14/2003 12:34:00 PM
The Federal Communications Commission and the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition squared off Friday in oral arguments in the D.C. U.S. Court of Appeals, with the FCC arguing that Rainbow/PUSH shouldn't even be there.
According to a source familiar with those arguments, although Rainbow/PUSH asserted its charges that Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. used Pittsburgh broadcaster Eddie Edwards and his Glencairn nine-station group as a front to circumvent restrictions on owning two stations in a market -- and that Edwards had been less than truthful -- merits took a back seat to procedure.
The case instead appeared to turn on the FCC's challenge of Rainbow/PUSH's standing to sue given that the duopoly restrictions have since been loosened.
To the extent Rainbow/PUSH was complaining about loss of diversity, the fact that it was now permissible for Sinclair to own two stations in Oklahoma City and Kerrville, Texas -- the markets for which Rainbow/PUSH offered up viewer complaints -- meant that there may no longer be a legally protected viewer interest in not being exposed to co-owned stations in the same market.
Rainbow/PUSH said it had affidavits from viewers in other markets, but the court essentially responded that it should already have presented that evidence.
It's an inexact science at best to handicap oral arguments, since judges often play devil's advocate, but the source suggested that the court could well throw out the case on the standing issue.
If it did reach the merits, however, and rule for Rainbow/PUSH in those two markets, the FCC might then be forced to take a look at the other Sinclair markets, he said.
Rainbow/PUSH had not returned calls at press time, and Sinclair declined to comment, pointing out that it was not a party to the litigation.
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