FCC Enables Faster Media Consolidation as Pro-Trump Sinclair Group Seizes Even More Local Stations

A major decision by the Federal Communications Commission Tuesday eliminated a decades-old rule that ensures community residents can have a say in their local broadcast TV station.

The regulation is known as the “main studio rule,” and it requires broadcasters to have a physical studio near where they have a license to transmit.

This comes as the FCC also announced plans, at a hearing Wednesday with FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, to abolish long-standing media-ownership rules, including limits on how many stations or newspapers one company can own in a single market.

Opponents say these changes will accelerate media consolidation, allowing massive corporate media companies, such as the right-wing Sinclair Broadcast Group, to buy up and control even more local stations. Earlier this year, Trump’s FCC appointees revived a regulatory loophole that could allow Sinclair to buy 42 TV stations from Tribune Media Company, on top of the more than 170 stations it already owns.

The deal means Sinclair stations would reach about 72 % of U.S. households.

At: https://www.democracynow.org/2017/10/26/fcc_eliminates_rules_preventing_media_consolidation