Aug. 6 (UPI) — The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday voted to remove a cap on the number of TV stations that can be owned by a single company nationwide, which critics say could result in more industry consolidation.
In a 2-1 party-line vote, the agency that regulates broadcast airwaves repealed the rule that limited ownership of stations that reach more than 39% of the total television audience in the country. The law had been in place since 2004.
The FCC said in a press release that acquisitions will be considered through a “case-by-case review.”
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said he plans to back local TV markets and “stop hamstringing this one segment of the broader market with outdated restrictions.”
Carr and fellow Republican Commissioner Olivia Trusty voted for the change. Democratic Commissioner Anna Gomez voted against the repeal.
“Eliminating the cap does not free local broadcasters from economic pressure, it just changes who is doing the squeezing,” Gomez said in a statement. “The large station groups positioned to grow even larger under this decision are not local broadcasters, they are national companies that own local stations and increasingly dictate what airs on them.”
Backers of the cap said they plan to challenge the rule change in court.
Carr’s goal “is to spur more media consolidation involving companies Donald Trump views as ideological allies and corporate cronies,” Matt Wood, general counsel for public interest organization Free Press, said in a statement.
Wood, and other critics, have questioned if the FCC can legally change the policy that was enacted by Congress.
“Brendan Carr cannot undo the limit that Congress set just because he feels like it,” Wood said.