US: Broadcasting group challenges FCC rules

The National Association of Broadcasters filed comments to the Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday challenging the regulator’s views on duopoly broadcast markets and other aspects of the industry, say reports.

The rationale behind the FCC’s rules over the broadcasting sector – that television stations only compete among themselves within local markets – is not true, the NAB said in its filing. Further, duopoly broadcast television markets do not lead to higher advertising rates, and joint sale agreements between broadcasters similarly do not lead to higher ad rates.

The NAB cited an Economists Incorporated study conducted over the last decade within 210 local markets. The study aimed to test whether the Department of Justice’s views that television stations only compete within local markets are valid.

”The presence of JSAs and SSAs is not statistically associated with increased advertising prices in local markets,” the study found.

The NAB is now asking the FCC to “adjust its rules to better reflect today and tomorrow’s marketplace that features competition from rival industries as it weighs relating ownership restrictions,” noting that other rules it sees as out dated, like the ban on newspaper-broadcast cross ownership, should have been eliminated years go.

Full content: TV News Check

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