FCC Repeals Decades-Old Rules Blocking Broadcast Media Mergers (variety.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Washington Post (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternative source): Federal regulators rolled back decades-old rules on Thursday, making it far easier for media outlets to be bought and sold -- potentially leading to more newspapers, radio stations and television broadcasters being owned by a handful of companies. The regulations, eliminated in a 3-to-2 vote by the Federal Communications Commission, were first put in place in the 1970s to ensure that a diversity of voices and opinions could be heard on the air or in print. But now those rules represent a threat to small outlets that are struggling to survive in a vastly different media world, according to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. One long-standing rule repealed Thursday prevented one company in a given media market from owning both a daily newspaper and a TV station. Another rule blocked TV stations in the same market from merging with each other if the combination would leave fewer than eight independently owned stations. The agency also took aim at rules restricting the number of TV and radio stations that any media company could simultaneously own in a single market. A major beneficiary of the deregulatory moves, analysts say, is Sinclair, a conservative broadcasting company that is seeking to buy up Tribune Media for $3.9 billion.

Comments

Trump hates consumers

[Snotnose]

Tax plan? We're fucked long term even if we luck out short term. Net neutrality? We're fucked. Bringing back coal? We're fucked. This? We're fucked.

Re:Trump hates consumers

[JoshuaZ]

This is a very confused response. First, just because a similar bad thing has happened in the past, that doesn't mean that other bad things aren't bad, or even worse. Heck, the difference between 90% and 99% is a pretty big and important one. Second, the post you were replying to didn't just mention this specific thing but also the tax plan, repeal of net neutrality, and Trump's attempts to put coal over the environment. Third, the 1996 Telecommunications Act was written when the Republicans controlled both the House and Senate. While the Clinton Whitehouse did have some input, at the end of the day, they didn't write it, simply signed a bill that had passed with strong majorities.

Re:Trump hates consumers

[Anonymous Coward]

Tax plan? We're fucked long term even if we luck out short term. Net neutrality? We're fucked. Bringing back coal? We're fucked. This? We're fucked.

Maybe Jon Stewart had this kind of thing in mind when he dubbed Mr. Trump Fuck Face Von Clown Stick.

They all freaked when Clinton uttered the world deplorables, but as near as I can tell this is what a lot of the people that elect these type of people are. (I do not excuse being uninformed, or mislead by Russia. Citizenship has duties. Getting correct information, no matter how hard it is to do so, is one of them. Believing it because Alex Jones or Facebook show it is not an excuse.) My favorite excuse from the more informed is that Trump is okay since he is doing some things on some peoples bucket list, which is probably mostly stacking the bench with judges they approve of.

People blamed Obama for the debt going to all hell, but he was just recovering from a recession and the Bush tax cuts. Yes he compromised and made most of them permanent, save for the highest tier (i think that is correct), but then I'm not sure he could have done anything else, but someone can correct me if Obama still had majorities in the house and senate at that time.

Now they are playing the same game, thinking the dems won't let the middle class tax cuts lapse, and they won't be able to undo the corporate changes, but as mentioned before, all they need is a president and a simple majority to play the same game in reverse.

What is worse is the key to this current tax cut mess, which corporations like sinclair are going to love and likely use to grow even bigger, without limit, is throwing another dagger into health care. Not requiring people to buy health care doesn't in itself save a single dime, but the indirect effects are huge. Why is that, well the indirect effect millions lose health care, and everyone else's rates go up, again.

Guess what happens when millions lose health care? A lot of those eventually result in deaths that were preventable. In other words, to pad the corps and rich friends pockets, they are more than willing to see a lot of Americans die or suffer, but fortunately, most of their sources of news can now be owned by the right people, so they can reassure us that it is for the best.

Deregulation

[ClickOnThis]

It's worth exercising a bit of reflection before deregulating. You're taking the bumpers off the bumper-cars. Somebody could get hurt. Remember the mortgage crisis?

Re: Is this the same media

[Zero__Kelvin]

You seem to think accurate reporting is "bias" if it rightly reports truths you dislike. All scientists also are very biased by your definition of bias.