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US: FCC mulls ending merger ban on “Big Four” broadcast networks

By  |  December 13, 2018

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted Wednesday, December 12, to review media ownership rules and potentially overturn one preventing the four major broadcast networks from merging with each other.

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    The FCC stated it could reverse the rule that bars a merger among the “Big Four” networks: NBC, owned by Comcast; Walt Disney’s  ABC; CBS; or Fox, owned by Twenty-First Century Fox.

    The FCC asked if the rule “remains necessary to promote competition, localism, or viewpoint diversity.” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said the Commission is “teeing up a number of questions” and keeping an open mind on whether the rules still make sense.

    The FCC noted that a version of the rule barring dual ownership of networks has existed since the 1940s and asks if US antitrust laws or other policies would “serve as a sufficient backstop to prevent undue consolidation between or among the Big Four networks.”

    Full Content: The Hill

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