You wouldn’t expect to see Newsmax, a media company deeply aligned with President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement, and Comcast, another media company currently in the crosshairs of the president, to be fighting on the same side.
But in the case of FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s plan to consider revising or eliminating longstanding rules limiting broadcast TV station ownership under his broad “Delete, Delete Delete” deregulation effort, both companies are trying to get in the way.
Late last week, Comcast’s NBCUniversal division filed comments to the FCC, criticizing the agency for its plan to keep limiting the ownership capabilities of major broadcast networks like NBC while opening up the wherewithal of station group owners like Nexstar.
Last week, Nexstar the largest station group in America, entered into a $6.2 billion deal to acquire No. 4 group Tegna. Nexstar was already beyond the maximum ownership threshold under the current rules — which limit TV station owners to reaching 39% of U.S. TV households.
Meanwhile, Newsmax Media filed its own comments, questioning the FCC’s authority to change the rules. Only Congress has that authority, Newsmax argued.
Carr and the FCC have argued that the ownership cap rules, established decades ago to control monopolistic power of mass media, are obsolete in an era in which broadcasters are competing against powerful global tech giants and media conglomerates.
But at a time of deep division, there are meaningful political elements to this story that can’t be ignored.
For example, the president on Monday once again called on the FCC to revoke the station licenses of not just NBC, but Disney’s ABC, as well, criticizing the networks’ respective news divisions for running “bad stories” about him. Comcast is undoubtedly concerned about station groups like Nexstar and Sinclair vastly expanding their power and reach and further muzzling the voice of Comcast’s NBC broadcast division.
Comcast sees TV ownership cap removal or changes as one more way NBC is being singled out by the current administration.
“The First Amendment also precludes singling out certain networks for differential treatment in any elimination or modification of the national ownership cap,” NBCU wrote in its comments. “It is axiomatic that the First Amendment ‘protects speech and speaker,’ and the government cannot single out ‘disfavored speakers’ for restrictions.”
For its part, Newsmax not only competes with the already vast local news operations of Nexstar stations, but also the station group giant’s own cable news network, News Nation. Removal of ownership cap restrictions could put Newsmax at a sizable competitive disadvantage.
Newsmax contends that the FCC’s motives have little to do with helping the broadcast business compete with Big Tech.
“Newsmax stands by its claim that lifting the Horizontal Cap probably has more to do with enriching a few big broadcasters than it does with serving the public interest,” the media company said in its FCC filing.