Prometheus vs. FCC, the decade-old lawsuit that sought to prevent the loosening of the cross-ownership rules that prevented one entity from owning too many newspapers and broadcast outlets in the same town, returned to court as the FCC wrangled with the DC Courts about diversity surveys called Quadrennial Reviews that the agency hasn’t done and debated whether the increasingly dated rules needed to be strengthened, loosened or overhauled entirely. Media Alliance is a plaintiff in the case.
The FCC issued a decision largely retaining the rules on August 25th. Should you wish to read it, here it is.
The rules that were at stake in the case included prohibitions on the number of radio and TV stations that can be owned by one company in the same market, cross-ownership rules that restrict ownership of more than two TV stations and 1 radio station or a broadcast station and a daily newspaper in the same market, and a prohibition on mergers between the four major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox).