WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission's Office of Economics and Analytics is seeking comments on the state of competition in the communications market to assess the the competitive landscape for voice, video, audio, and data services.
The agency seeks the comments on even numbered years as part of its statutory requirement to publish a “Communications Market Place Report” that will help the agency determine what laws, regulations and policies might be hindering competition and how those laws, regulations and policies might be improved.
In the past, broadcasters have filed papers with the regulator urging it to eliminate caps on broadcast stations and to eliminate regulations that have made it difficult for broadcasters to compete with tech giants and streaming platforms.
While the FCC has not altered ownership rules in decades, court decisions since the last report in 2024 have eliminated the prohibition on owning two top four stations in one market and the FCC recently waived ownership caps in the Nexstar/Tegna merger, though that approval is now being challenged in two different federal courts.
The FCC created the GN Docket No. 26-78 for filings. Comments are due May 21, 2026 and Reply Comments are due June 22, 2026.
The full Public Notice is available here.
