Photo Credit: Chris Zhang

As the FCC considers loosening or removing caps on broadcast TV and radio station ownership in the U.S., Beasley Media and others are speaking out against the restrictions. Meanwhile, the musicFIRST Coalition remains adamant that the limits should be left in place.

Beasley and musicFIRST just recently reiterated their positions (and recapped their related discussions with FCC commissioners) in ex parte communication notices. However, they definitely aren’t the only entities weighing in on the potential rule changes, which were technically set in motion by a regulatory review back in 2022.

To be sure, television operators like Nexstar Media (which disclosed discussing multiple subjects and policies) and different radio giants such as Cumulus Media are likewise making their voices heard. The FCC is specifically considering adjusting the current “local radio ownership rule” and the “local television ownership rule” established under the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

In keeping with their titles, the rules limit broadcast station ownership; the FCC’s summed up the precise caps, including an eight-station-per-entity ownership ceiling on the radio side in markets with 45 or more stations, in a straightforward document.

(Also, of those eight stations, no more than five can “be in the same service,” meaning AM or FM, according to the text.)

But as the rule-relaxation advocates are driving home, quite a lot has changed during the past 30 years. Cumulus in one letter described a meeting with FCC Chairman Brendan Carr; during the sit down, execs “addressed the need for quick and substantial relaxation of the radio ownership rules.

“They also emphasized that significant relaxation of the radio ownership rules would be required for companies in the industry to invest in the future of radio and preserve localism,” Cumulus indicated.

Beasley, for its part, has apparently participated in a number of FCC meetings as of late, one having taken place with Commissioner Olivia Trusty on July 16th, another with Commissioner Anna Gomez on July 20th.

“We explained that radio broadcasters now compete directly with streaming services, podcasts, satellite radio, social media platforms, and large digital advertising companies that are not subject to comparable ownership limitations,” Beasley wrote in each notice.

“As a result, the current rules impair broadcasters’ ability to achieve necessary scale, compete effectively for audiences and advertising revenue, and continue providing local programming and emergency information to their communities,” the company continued.

As noted, plenty of others are speaking out in favor of doing away with ownership caps. But what about the case for letting the limits stand? In an ex parte notice of her own, Rachel Stilwell, counsel for musicFIRST and the Future of Music Coalition, expressed the belief that the FCC should “retain” the rule’s limits.

It’s “in the public interest for the Commission” to “retain the current Local Radio Ownership Rule as it relates to numeric limits on the number [of] commercial FM radio stations that one entity can own in a given geographic market,” wrote Stilwell, whose repped organizations’ take on the subject isn’t new.

Now, all eyes are, of course, on the appropriate FCC determination. The commissioners are expected to vote on a national television ownership rule (one of the multiple subjects discussed by Nexstar) during an August 6th meeting; a local radio rule vote doesn’t appear to have been scheduled but will reportedly arrive in the near future.