Allowing the FCC to avoid judicial review by delaying voting on applications for review (AFR) of the Nexstar/Tegna deal would be counter to the will of Congress and encourage other agencies to do the same, merger opponents told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in filings Friday. “When the agency simultaneously allows the Bureau decision to take immediate effect and slow rolls both a stay request and resolution of the [application for review], delaying judicial review makes no sense,” said a joint filing from state broadband groups and Newsmax in response to the FCC’s motion to dismiss the case. In the 9th Circuit, Nexstar separately pushed the appellate court for expedited review of its challenge to the hold-separate order currently blocking its merger with Tegna.
A submarine cable trade group called the FCC’s proposed FY 2026 regulatory fees discriminatory, while satellite companies pushed for a new fee category and NAB sought a reduction for earth stations, according to comments filed in docket 26-94 by Thursday’s deadline. “The changes to the fees of submarine cable operators proposed in the FY 2026 NPRM are arbitrary and unjustified, and should be rejected,” said the Submarine Cable Coalition.
The FCC appeared to claim broad authority over programming choices in a public notice Thursday laying out the agency’s view of broadcasters' public interest requirements. Several communications attorneys told us that the item didn't contain any new revelations about the commission's outlook and is likely intended to intimidate broadcasters. The document said in its final line that “the FCC will not hesitate to exercise its statutory authority to ensure that broadcasters either fulfill their public interest obligation or provide the privilege of being a broadcast licensee to someone that will fulfill that duty.”
The FCC’s demand for early license renewal is “procedurally and legally indefensible,” said Disney in an “Objection to Unlawful Early Renewal” filed Thursday, along with license renewal documents for its eight stations. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has said the unusual order for early renewal was the next step in an investigation into Disney’s diversity practices, but it was issued one day after President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump called for action against Disney-owned ABC (see 2604300073). Several of the stations weren't due for license renewal for years.
Conservative pro-family groups, LQBTQ+ advocates and more than 35,000 individual commenters weighed in on the FCC’s public notice on TV ratings and flagging gender-identity-related content, according to filings in docket 19-41. The Center for American Rights, Concerned Women for America, U.S. Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., and others supported ratings that call out LGBTQ+ and gender identity content, arguing that the TV Oversight Monitoring Board (TVOMB) should be remade to include parents and religious groups. However, Public Knowledge, Free Press, LQBTQ+ civil rights groups and the trade groups that oversee TVOMB said rules requiring such ratings would be unconstitutional, and that FCC doesn’t have any authority over the ratings system.
The FCC Media Bureau is seeking public comment on whether Disney’s The View qualifies for a bona fide news exemption from the agency’s equal-opportunity rules, according to a public notice Friday.
Nexstar wants the preliminary injunction blocking its merger with Tegna to be limited to the 31 markets where the two companies both own Big Four stations and for the state plaintiffs to be ruled out of the case for lacking standing, it told the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a brief Wednesday. Nexstar also asked the court in a separate motion to expedite the case to allow oral argument in August. “The district court relied on locality-specific antitrust allegations but imposed a nationwide remedy,” the company said. “Both cannot be right.”
The Legal Accountability Center (LAC) has filed bar complaints against FCC Chairman Brendan Carr in Washington, D.C., and Maryland over his recent actions against Disney and Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the agency's conduct during Skydance’s purchase of Paramount, and his “leveraging [of] regulatory authority in a manner that appears retaliatory toward protected speech and selectively targets broadcasters who President [Donald] Trump dislikes.”
Opponents of the Nexstar/Tegna merger pressed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit this week to force the full FCC to act on appeals of the Media Bureau order approving the deal and to issue another stay barring the companies from combining. A hold-separate order issued by the U.S. District Court for Eastern California has already paused the transaction but is currently under appeal in the 9th Circuit.
HERSHEY, Pa. -- The U.S. should focus on security and alliances ahead of the 2027 World Radiocommunication Conference in Shanghai, according to speakers at the FCBA’s annual seminar Saturday, including NTIA Chief of Staff Brooke Donilon and CTIA General Counsel Umair Javed. “With this WRC being in Shanghai, we certainly want to make sure that the U.S. positions are not only solidified, but that we're also showing up in different countries and really trying to sell those positions, so that we can go in with a really strong advantage,” Donilon said during an onstage Q&A.