"The proposed merger between Sinclair and Tribune's 42 stations would enable
Sinclair to reach 72 percent of U.S. households, according to Public Knowledge;
the organization reports that Congress had previously set a nationwide audience
cap of 39 percent."
Parenthetically, that 72% figure ignores the "regulated" UHF discount. An
artificial, legacy regulatory measure, no longer having any basis in technical
fact.
The problem with this current FCC is that they are way too overtly
formula-thinking, slogan-spouting dogmatic. They want to retain the UHF
discount regulation and they want to abolish both the national caps and the
local caps. So in short, do your best to stack the deck in favor of special
interests only. It's not their charter!
If, instead, they would be more inclined to do what they were set up to do,
they could make some much more logical arguments.
1. In response to, "... it would create a broadcasting behemoth with
unprecedented control over both the national and local television markets," the
FCC could easily say no, far from it, the local caps prevent any such control
over local markets. Too bad that this FCC cannot use such an obvious comeback.
Here is the local cap wording:
https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/fccs-review-broadcast-ownership-rules
"The rule allows an entity to own up to two TV stations in the same DMA if
either (1) the service areas - known as "Grade B signal contours" - of the
stations do not overlap; or (2) at least one of the stations is not ranked
among the top four stations in the DMA (based on market share), and **at least
eight** independently owned TV stations would remain in the market after the
proposed combination."
2. This is OTA TV. Meaning, no household in any market is constrained to only
using one station or station group, as they are constrained to only one MVPD
when they are tethered to an MVPD. So this FUD about the national footprint is
completely irrelevant, when it comes to voices heard nationwide on TV.
3. The UHF discount regulation is going to be less of an issue anyway, after
the repack, since so many UHF stations will migrate to VHF. So that, coupled
with the phony-baloney last millennium excuse for it to exist at all, it should
be abolished.
Instead, this FCC has to go on the defensive. Completely unnecessary.
Bert
----------------------------------------------------
http://www.tvtechnology.com/news/0002/public-knowledge-sinclairtribune-not-in-the-public-interest/281722
Public Knowledge, ACA Rail Against Sinclair-Tribune
Says merger would reduce local control of broadcasting and local news coverage
August 30, 2017
By Michael Balderston
WASHINGTON-More shots at the proposed Sinclair-Tribune merger has been fired,
this time from the public interest group Public Knowledge and ACA. The
organizations filed responses to Sinclair and Tribune's Opposition to the
original Petition to Deny, which has asked the FCC to stop the merger of these
companies.
"The record is clear," Yosef Getachew, policy fellow at Public Knowledge,
wrote. "The proposed combination of Sinclair Broadcast Group with Tribune Media
is not in the public interest. If approved, the merger would result in fewer
diverse independent programming options and higher cable prices for consumers.
The transaction could also delay mobile broadband deployment in the 600 MHz
band, hindering efforts to close the digital divide."
"ACA urges the Federal Communications Commission to deny the Sinclair-Tribune
transaction because it would violate existing FCC rules while at the same time
failing to meet the obligation to demonstrate it would serve the public
interest," ACA President and CEO Matthew M. Polka's statement read. "Even if
the transaction were not per se unlawful, it would create a broadcasting
behemoth with unprecedented control over both the national and local television
markets."
The proposed merger between Sinclair and Tribune's 42 stations would enable
Sinclair to reach 72 percent of U.S. households, according to Public Knowledge;
the organization reports that Congress had previously set a nationwide audience
cap of 39 percent.
"Sinclair and Tribune have failed to show any positive, transaction-specific
public interest benefits from the merger, and fail to address the significant
public interest harms," Getachew writes. "Instead, their filings in the record
have only further demonstrated public interest harms that would result from the
merger. Thus, the Commission should block the proposed merger."
Click on the links to read Public Knowledge's and ACA's complete filings.
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