FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty has signaled a more flexible approach to media ownership policy, telling broadcasters that the FCC needs to rethink its rules in light of today’s much more competitive audio environment.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the NAB Show in Las Vegas, Trusty said traditional ownership restrictions have long been measured through three core goals: competition, diversity of opinion, and locality. But she made it clear that these standards cannot be applied in the same way as they were decades ago, when broadcasters had far fewer competitors for viewers’ attention.<\/p>\n
“Consumers today have more choices in audio and video content than ever before,” she said, pointing to the explosion of digital platforms that are now competing directly with radio for viewing time.<\/p>\n
This change should shape how the FCC thinks about ownership restrictions, Trusty suggested. Although she stopped short of endorsing specific rule changes, she warned against policies that focused too narrowly on broadcast competition without considering the broader market. The agency said it should be cautious about rules that may have made sense before but now risk hindering broadcasters’ actions.<\/p>\n
Her comments come as broadcasters seek to ease ownership caps, arguing they need greater scale to compete with streaming platforms, podcasts and other digital audio services.<\/p>\n
Mr. Trustee acknowledged that the FCC has work to do to achieve greater balance. On the other hand, the FCC must maintain competition and ensure diversity of opinion. On the other hand, broadcasters must recognize that they are operating in a dramatically expanded media environment and are no longer the dominant gatekeepers.<\/p>\n
Critics of consolidation have pointed to the potential loss of local programming, and one trustee said localism remains an important factor in ownership discussions. But she linked ownership policy to the broader health of the industry. A stronger economic foundation would allow broadcasters to invest in local content, maintain reliable news operations and continue to meet their public interest obligations, she suggested.<\/p>\n
With trusted agreements, broadcasters are at their best when serving as reliable sources of local news and providing critical information during emergencies.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring this winter storm, radio and television stations across the country remained on the air, providing updates on power outages, hazardous road conditions, and severe weather,\u201d she said. \u201cAll of this complements the important role that broadcasters play in emergency warning systems.\u201d<\/p>\n
After meeting recently with stations in Kansas and Utah, Trusty said he also learned that many local news operations are losing money on their own. She concludes that if stations can put themselves on stronger financial footing, they will be in a better position to meet the needs of their communities.<\/p>\n
defend a controversial policy<\/strong><\/p>\n Mr. Trusty also took time before the station to defend some of FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s moves, which critics see as using agency policy to pressure media coverage of the administration. But Mr Trustee said he saw the move as part of fulfilling radio and television’s “long-standing obligations”.<\/p>\n This partisan divide has been playing out in recent weeks over the so-called “war.” bona fide news exemption<\/span>. During elections, broadcasters are required to give all candidates the same access to their airwaves. This led to an FCC investigation into ABC-TV’s “The View,” with late-night host Stephen Colbert’s decision to cancel an interview with Texas Senate candidate James Talarico and broadcast it online instead, criticizing the FCC in the process.<\/p>\n But Trusty told the station that the agency is simply applying decades of FCC precedent, which creates a “realistic case-by-case framework.” For broadcasters already applying that case-by-case analysis, he said Media Bureau Recommendation<\/span> It was more of a “helpful reminder” in an election year than marching orders on radio or television.<\/p>\n Trusty also echoed Kerr’s comments, acknowledging that while trust in the media has declined in recent years, local broadcasters still outperform national media.<\/p>\n \u201cI have seen firsthand how broadcasters strive to maintain trust through their daily operations,\u201d she said. Trusty believes the FCC’s regulatory oversight will help promote its accountability. “Oversight through community relations that encourages local journalists to prioritize balanced reporting,” she said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n #FCC #commissioner #hints #reconsidering #ownership #rules<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty has signaled a more flexible approach to media ownership policy, telling broadcasters that the FCC needs to rethink its rules in light of today’s much more competitive audio environment. Speaking at the NAB Show in Las Vegas, Trusty said traditional ownership restrictions have long been measured through three core goals: competition, … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2441,2277,1170,2442,294,2444,2443,2445],"class_list":["post-919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-commissioner","tag-fcc","tag-free","tag-hints","tag-news","tag-ownership","tag-reconsidering","tag-rules"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yasbou.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}