WASHINGTON—DirecTV and broadband and cable associations from six states have filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission urging the agency to block E.W. Scripps proposed acquisition of INYO.
In February, Scripps announced that it was exercising its option to re-acquire 23 ION-affiliated stations for about $54 million. The stations were divested to INYO Broadcast Holdings in January of 2021 as part of its acquisition of ION so that the deal would comply with Federal Communications Commission ownership caps.
The filing argued “in re-acquiring these stations, Scripps will own television stations covering 40.29 percent of U.S. households (taking into account the UHF discount), thereby exceeding the FCC’s National Television Multiple Ownership Rule.”
Although the FCC has been increasingly willing to waive ownership caps, something that it did with the Nexstar/Tegna deal, the filing also argued that “the FCC lacks authority to waive the National Cap. The 2004 Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) enshrined a `39 percent national audience reach limitation’ into law by (1) directing the Commission to adopt the 39 percent limit; (2) excluding the 39 percent cap from the quadrennial review of broadcast ownership rules; (3) removing the Commission’s forbearance authority with respect to entities that exceed the 39-percent cap; and (4) requiring any entity exceeding that limit (except through population growth) to come into compliance in two years or less.”
“Petitioners recognize that the Media Bureau recently rejected these arguments in approving Nexstar’s acquisition of Tegna,” the filing noted. “But that decision was both erroneous on the merits and involved `novel questions of law, fact or policy that cannot be resolved under existing precedents and guidelines.’ Petitioners have sought full Commission review of that decision. Unless and until the full Commission (and reviewing courts) affirm the Media Bureau’s approach, Petitioners will continue to raise their concerns in appropriate contexts.”
The filing notes that if the deal is approved, the re-acquisition of these twenty-three stations, which are “primarily” ION affiliates, would give Scripps its “first station in nine local markets, create new duopolies in four local markets, and (assuming approval of a separate transaction) create new triopolies in eight local markets. Adding these stations to Scripps’ portfolio will also give the company a national audience reach of 40.29 percent when taking the UHF discount into account—thereby exceeding the National Cap.”
Those arguments have been consistently rejected by The FCC and broadcasters. In the last year, the FCC has argued that the ownership caps are in fact FCC rules, not a statutory requirement set by Congress and that the Media Bureau does have the authority to waive those rules.
The full filing is available here.
