Top Republicans on FCC oversight committees say the Federal Communications Commission’s Media Bureau decision to designate the Standard General-Tegna deal for hearing before an administrative law judge was unfair and a violation of a congressional charge to “promote competition and reduce regulation.”
They want the FCC to answer a host of questions related to the decision, importantly why the order was on delegated authority to the Media Bureau rather than the full commission, as well as “how retransmission-consent rates are a part of reviewing whether a license transfer is in the public interest” and how “labor relations are a part of reviewing whether a license transfer is in the public interest.”
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Those were both issues the Media Bureau said needed a hearing before the judge.
Sending the letter to FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel were Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), chair of the House Energy & Commerce Committee.
Hearing designations have historically been the death knell of proposed deals, which the legislators point out in arguing that was the FCC's goal in taking a step that would push an FCC decision on the deal past the May 22 financing deadline.
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The legislators came armed with some stats, saying, “In the past 30 years, no broadcast license transfer has gone through the hearing process in less than 358 days (the average time is 799 days).”
Such a timeline would be a killer for most deals.
Cruz and Rodgers want answers by April 19.
