BREAKING: FCC Scraps National TV Ownership Cap

The agency will now judge media deals case by case—giving Trump’s FCC enormous power to pick winners and losers.

The Federal Communications Commission has voted 2–1 to eliminate the rule that kept any one company from owning TV stations reaching more than 39 percent of U.S. households.

The FCC will replace that limit with a case-by-case review of broadcast deals. Chairman Brendan Carr says the new system will allow the FCC to approve deals that serve the public interest and reject those that do not.

But who’s deciding what “the public interest” means? Right now, with Brendan Carr clearly accepting marching orders from one source, that decision rests in the hands of one man: Donald Trump.

Looking at ownership caps on a case-by-case basis smacks of, “If Trump is okay with it, you’re golden. If he doesn’t like you, no deal.”

“Public interest” as code for political favoritism.

That’s a dangerous amount of power to place in the hands of any administration, especially one that repeatedly attacks news organizations and broadcasters over coverage it doesn’t like. Sometimes over jokes. And it’s just as dangerous whether the big man on campus is a Democrat or a Republican.

As with so many actions taken at the behest of the Trump administration, there’s also a major legal question. Congress set the 39 percent figure in 2004, and opponents argue that the FCC cannot erase it without Congress acting first.

Court challenges are sure to follow, along with possible action from state AGs like California’s Rob Bonta, who seems to be making his living suing the Trump administration.

Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends.