FCC Gives Sinclair a Sloppy Kiss by Killing 'Main Studio Rule' With Sinclair Broadcasting trying to expand via its planned acquisition of Tribune, the FCC has been intensely focused lately on making the giant broadcaster happy while greasing the skids for the deal. That has involved eliminating media consolidation rules intended to prevent any one broadcaster from becoming too powerful, resulting in the inevitable monopoly dismantling of independent media outlets and smaller news outlets, something of concern to Republicans and Democrats alike.

This week, the FCC's focus included voting along party lines to kill an 80 year old "studio rule," , which required that broadcasters actually maintain a local physical presence in a broadcast region if they want to do business in the community. The goal of the rule: to protect local news reporting and local communities from the often destructive impact of mindless broadcaster consolidation. As telecom giants like Comcast and AT&T increasingly expand into broadcasting, the threat of one company having a monopoly over both the pipe to your home -- and the information running over it -- should be apparent to most people, regardless of political ideology. According to FCC boss Ajit Pai, however, the “overwhelming majority” of public input favored the elimination of the rule, which he claimed would actually benefit consumers. “Continuing to require a main studio would detract from, rather than promote, a broadcaster’s ability and incentive to keep people informed and serve the public interest,” Pai said. Folks other than the giant broadcasters Pai's giving a handout to tend to disagree. "At a time when broadcast conglomerates like Sinclair are gobbling up more stations," the consumer advocacy group Free Press said in a July regulatory filing, "the Commission’s proposal would allow these conglomerates to move even more resources away from struggling communities and further centralize broadcasting facilities and staff in wealthier metropolitan areas." And again, these concerns are bipartisan in nature. "Anyone who understands how these big media companies operate can see the danger," Christopher Ruddy, CEO of Conservative news outlet Newsmax in a recent op/ed. "By owning local stations, the New York-based media networks could dictate local news coverage. With the planned elimination of the local studio rule, they will have a green light to do so." Most see the elimination of the rule (and the other media consolidation rule repeals Most see the elimination of the rule (and the other media consolidation rule repeals Pai is hard at work on ) as little more than a gift to Sinclair Broadcasting and other industry behemoths, in much the same way that Pai's plan to kill net neutrality and broadband privacy protections are little more than a gift to the biggest broadband providers.







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Most recommended from 29 comments



Dominokat

"Hi"

Premium Member

join:2002-08-06

Boothbay, ME 13 recommendations Dominokat Premium Member USA This is no longer the United States of America. It hasn’t been in a very long time. It’s now the United CORPORATION of America. Corporations are buying the politicians who are supposed to support US common Americans.

Money buys everything. Most people can’t buy politics.

Eddy120876

join:2009-02-16

Bronx, NY 11 recommendations Eddy120876 Member Conservatives zombie tv take over Here it comes , is like hydra Fox News growing and destroying independent news channels. silbaco

Premium Member

join:2009-08-03

USA 6 recommendations silbaco Premium Member News The local studio rule did nothing to protect local news. There are no rules mandating local news must be offered from a local studio or that any news must be offered at all for that matter. Local news has been kept alive by heavy demand. That demand will not change with this rule change. Nor will the fact that local news is best done locally. You can't have quality local news if your news team is hundreds of miles away. Heavy competition for viewers is going to keep much of anything from changing because local news is very profitable and it is also extremely important for attracting viewers to the station in general.

Anon744b5

@verizon.net 4 recommendations Anon744b5 Anon One corporation, one vote... for every lobbyist dollar spent.



All hail the Corporate States of America! shanghaista

join:2014-08-03

Canton, MA 3 recommendations shanghaista Member Right



Like how overwhelming majority wanted you to eliminate net neutrality with the same exact, scripted statement?



»www.fcc.gov/document/fcc ··· dio-rule "The overwhelming majority of public input favored our proposal. The record shows that main studios are no longer needed to enable broadcasters to be responsive to their communities of license."Like how overwhelming majority wanted you to eliminate net neutrality with the same exact, scripted statement?

EliteData

EliteData

Premium Member

join:2003-07-06

Hampton Bays, NY 3 recommendations EliteData Premium Member - the conglomerate media companies paid off the FCC for this to happen. Roadkill

Premium Member

join:2008-06-17

united state 3 recommendations Roadkill Premium Member Riding the Gravy Train Come in here dear boy have a cigar

You're gonna go far, you're gonna fly high

You're never gonna die

You're gonna make it if you try

They're gonna love you

Well I've always had a deep respect

And I mean that most sincerely

Killing all the rules is just fantastic

That is really what I think

Oh by the way, which one's Pai?

And did we tell you the name of the game, boy?

We call it Riding the Gravy Train



I couldn't help seeing a parallel to a Pink Floyd vintage song. A few word changes and it works for 2017. These lyrics were copied from SONGLYRICS website Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here album Have a Cigar track 3