FCC Eases Media Ownership Restrictions in Vote to Restore UHF Discount

The FCC on Thursday voted to restore an arcane rule that has allowed station groups to fall within media ownership limits.

The commission, in a 2-1 vote, reinstated the so-called UHF discount. First adopted in 1985, it has allowed media companies to count only half the coverage area reach of their UHF stations.

That’s important for major companies like Sinclair Broadcast Group, Fox Television Stations, Nexstar, and ION Media Networks in making sure that they fall within the media ownership cap — in which no one company can own stations that collectively reach more than 39% of the country.

Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, the sole Democrat on the FCC, dissented. She warned that the FCC’s move would diminish diversity, competition, and localism, and predicted a wave of mergers and acquisitions.

The UHF discount, she said, was from another era when there was a disparity between the UHF and VHF signal. That was eliminated with the transition to digital television. Broadcasters balked when the Obama-era FCC, under then-chairman Tom Wheeler, voted to eliminate the UHF discount, and station groups have been urging FCC chairman Ajit Pai to reinstate it.

She called the discount an “outdated state of play, with rules made for the analog era.” She cited statements from Sinclair that they are looking to buy more stations, and from CBS chief Leslie Moonves, anticipating a rise in the media ownership cap.

“The commission just wrapped up and put a bow on a huge gift for those large broadcasters, with ambitious dreams of more consolidation,” she said at the meeting. “Now I am not a betting woman, but mark my word: this order will have an immediate impact, on the purchase and sale of television stations.”

Pai, however, argued that the elimination of the discount needed to go hand-in-hand with an examination of the media ownership cap. He said that the FCC would start just such a proceeding later this year. Reinstating the UHF discount, he said, would give the FCC a “blank slate.”

“This represents a rational first step in media ownership reform policy allowing free and local broadcasters to remain competitive with multi-national pay TV giants and broadband providers, ” said Gordon Smith, the CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters.

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