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FCC's Wheeler, Pai Take Budget Case To Senate Panel
March 27, 2014 at 4:58 PM (PT)
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FCC Chairman TOM WHEELER and Commissioner AJIT PAI took their budget case to the Senate Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government Committee on Appropriations THURSDAY (3/27),
While WHEELER focused his prepared comments on the budget and the need to replace the Commission's aging IT system and modernize the Universal Service Fund and operate spectrum auctions, PAI reiterated his concern over restricting television Joint Sales Agreements, Shared Services Agreements, or Local Marketing Agreements by making some attributable, saying, "As broadcasters’ share of the advertising market has shrunk in the digital age, television stations must be able to enter into innovative, pro-competitive arrangements in order to operate efficiently. JSAs allow stations to save costs and to provide the services that we should want television broadcasters to offer, particularly in our nation’s mid-sized and small media markets."
He also asserted that "the time has come to eliminate the newspaper-television cross-ownership rule" and raised the issue of AM revitalization once again, telling the panel that "millions of Americans -- myself included -- still rely on and believe in AM radio. So this initiative is close to my heart."

