FCC's Pai: Wheeler's Ownership Rule Proposals From 'The '70s'

Pai

FCC Commissioner AJIT PAI is not impressed with Chairman TOM WHEELER's proposal for revision (or lack of it) of the media ownership rules (NET NEWS 6/27).

In a statement released TODAY, PAI rips WHEELER's proposal for not revisiting the Commission's newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership ban, saying, "The FCC’s rules should reflect the media marketplace of today.  Unfortunately, Chairman WHEELER’s media ownership proposal reflects the world that existed in the 1970s.

"Last month, the FCC had no problem approving not one, but two multibillion-dollar cable
mergers. Last year, it signed off on AT&T’s acquisition of DIRECTV. Yet, it now gets the vapors at the prospect of a newspaper in SCRANTON, PA owning a single radio station. Whatever the motivation for the Chairman’s proposal, it has nothing to do with the evidence in the record, principled decision-making, or the law. Indeed, given current trends, it is likely that the Commission’s newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership restrictions will outlive the print newspaper industry itself. "

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