NAB Offers 30% Solution

The National Association of Broadcasters has pitched FCC commissioner Mignon Clyburn on a compromise to FCC chairman Tom Wheeler's planned March 31 vote to make JSAs above 15% of ad time attributable.

NAB made the proffer in a letter to Clyburn Thursday from NAB president Gordon Smith. 

Clyburn has been seeking a compromise that recognizes the value to diversity of sharing arrangements while addressing issues of circumventing ownership rules.

NAB has a compromise suggestion that includes moving that number to above 30% of ad sales, with benchmarks that establish licensee control, including retaining control over rates charged for ads and the option to hire other sales staff.

And to the diversity issues, NAB said the parties to JSAs would have to do at least one among a number of things that includes expanding opportunities for minorities in broadcasting and/or programming to niche audiences.

NAB has also pitched the proposal to Republican commissioners Ajit Pai and Michael O'Rielly.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.