{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://doyle.house.gov/press-release/congressional-leaders-warn-fcc-against-ignoring-law-tv-station-ownership", "Congressional Leaders Warn FCC Against Ignoring Law on TV Station Ownership", "2017-11-20", "2017", "2017-11", "Democrat", "House", "PA", "Mike Doyle", "D000482", "doyle.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Washington, DC \u2013 Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (CA-12), Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-6), and Subcommittee on Communications and Technology Ranking Member Mike Doyle (PA-14) released the following letter to each of the Members of the Federal Communications Commission. The letter urges the Commissioners to comply with existing federal law by enforcing the statutory national cap on ownership of broadcast stations.\u00a0\n\u00a0\nThe letter states \u201cWe write to remind the Commission that it is prohibited from allowing any single company to own broadcast stations that break the national ownership cap.\u00a0 To comply with the law, the Commission is required to order divestitures in any transaction in which a company\u2014including Sinclair Broadcast Group (Sinclair)\u2014attempts to acquire stations that reach more than 39% of the national broadcast audience.\u00a0 If the Commission fails to comply with the law now, future Commissions will be forced to order such divestitures when the company requests to renew licenses that exceed the statutory cap.\u201d\n\u00a0\nThe full text of the letter follows below:\n\u00a0\nNovember 20, 2017\n\u00a0\n\u00a0\nThe Honorable Ajit V. Pai\nChairman\nFederal Communications Commission\n445 12th Street S.W.\nWashington, D.C. 20554\n\u00a0\nThe Honorable Mignon Clyburn\nCommissioner\nFederal Communications Commission\n445 12th Street S.W.\nWashington, D.C. 20554\n\u00a0\nThe Honorable Mike O\u2019Rielly\nCommissioner\nFederal Communications Commission\n445 12th Street S.W.\nWashington, D.C. 20554\n\u00a0\nThe Honorable Brendan Carr\nCommissioner\nFederal Communications Commission\n445 12th Street S.W.\nWashington, D.C. 20554\n\u00a0\nThe Honorable Jessica Rosenworcel\nCommissioner\nFederal Communications Commission\n445 12th Street S.W.\nWashington, D.C. 20554\n\u00a0\n\u00a0\nDear Chairman Pai, Commissioner Clyburn, Commissioner O\u2019Rielly, Commissioner Carr and Commissioner Rosenworcel:\n\u00a0\nWe write to remind the Commission that it is prohibited from allowing any single company to own broadcast stations that break the national ownership cap.\u00a0 To comply with the law, the Commission is required to order divestitures in any transaction in which a company\u2014including Sinclair Broadcast Group (Sinclair)\u2014attempts to acquire stations that reach more than 39% of the national broadcast audience.\u00a0 If the Commission fails to comply with the law now, future Commissions will be forced to order such divestitures when the company requests to renew licenses that exceed the statutory cap.\u00a0\n\u00a0\nCongress acted in 2004 to set the maximum national audience reach for entities owning TV stations at 39 percent.\u00a0 \u00a0Congress passed this law on a bipartisan basis to protect consumers, encourage independent voices in their media market, and prevent one station group from serving more than 39% of the population. By explicitly excluding review of the cap from the Congressionally-mandated quadrennial review of broadcast ownership rules, we made clear that the FCC is not permitted to change or evade that national cap.\u00a0 \u00a0Commissioner O\u2019Rielly correctly testified at a recent FCC oversight hearing that only Congress can change the cap.\u00a0 As Commissioner O\u2019Rielly also rightly noted, Congress did not intend to allow a company to circumvent the cap using outdated rules such as the UHF discount.\u00a0 His reading of the law is consistent with the position of at least two other sitting Commissioners.\u00a0 \u00a0\n\u00a0\nWe were therefore surprised when Commissioner O\u2019Rielly refused to say whether he will allow a company to acquire licenses that would exceed the nationwide cap set by Congress.\u00a0 This is not a judgment call\u2014no Commissioner has the authority to ignore the law.\u00a0\n\u00a0\nThe law requires that if the FCC approves any transaction that would exceed the statutory cap\u2014including the applications by Sinclair to acquire licenses owned by Tribune Media\u2014that it orders the company to divest any stations necessary within two years.\u00a0 \u00a0The Commission does not have the authority to waive this statutory requirement.\u00a0\u00a0\n\u00a0\nIgnoring the statutory cap now would force future Commission\u2019s to act to enforce the law properly.\u00a0 Specifically, the final backstop to ensure compliance with the law comes when a company applies to renew its licenses.\u00a0 The Commission cannot renew licenses for group owners when those licenses exceed the 39 percent cap\u2014the FCC must order divestitures at that time.\u00a0 While Commission practice is to grandfather licenses during renewals when those licenses violate Commission rules, the FCC cannot waive the law.\u00a0 Neither this Commission nor any future Commissions may grandfather a license renewal that violates the statutory cap.\n\u00a0\nWhen each of you was sworn in as Commissioners, you swore to faithfully discharge the duties of your office.\u00a0 These obligations include enforcing the laws of the United States as passed by Congress.\u00a0 The majority of the Commission correctly believes that Congress imposed a 39% national cap for broadcasters and that we did not create any loopholes around this cap.\u00a0 To comply with your oath, you are required to order divestitures when necessary to stay within the restraints of the law.\n\u00a0\nWe will be closely monitoring the Commission\u2019s action in this area.\u00a0 We encourage you to spend the Commission\u2019s time exploring ways to promote both minority media ownership and a diversity of programming on our airwaves instead of treading down this path that is contrary to the will of Congress.\u00a0\u00a0\n\u00a0\nThank you for your consideration of these concerns, which are shared by many of our colleagues in the Congress.\n\u00a0\nSincerely,\n\u00a0\nNancy Pelosi\nDemocratic Leader\n\u00a0\nFrank Pallone, Jr.\nRanking Member\nCommittee on Energy\n\u00a0 and Commerce\n\u00a0\nMike Doyle\nRanking Member\nSubcommittee on Communications\u00a0\n\u00a0 and Technology\u00a0\n\u00a0\n\u00a0\n\u00a0\n\u00a0\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://doyle.house.gov/press-release/congressional-leaders-warn-fcc-against-ignoring-law-tv-station-ownership"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.741755124181509, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}