Free Press Urges the Carr FCC to Abandon Plans to Let Big Broadcast Conglomerates Become Even Bigger

WASHINGTON — On Wednesday, Free Press called on the Federal Communications Commission to reject further local-media consolidation, stating that any move to weaken the agency’s ownership rules would harm the public interest and undermine efforts to preserve quality local news.

The comments, made in a filing in the agency’s Quadrennial Regulatory Review, address the FCC’s broadcast-ownership limits, which were originally designed to promote diversity, competition and localism in the licensing of broadcasters’ access to the public airwaves.

“Despite [the] clear public interest-based need for the Commission to foster local broadcasting markets that are more competitive and certainly more diverse than any other commercial market, local broadcasting markets are already highly concentrated,” read Free Press’ comments to the FCC. “Elimination of the few remaining ownership limits would impart devastating consequences on the public’s welfare and ultimately democracy itself.”

Since taking over the FCC at the beginning of 2025, Chairman Brendan Carr has sought to intimidate media companies and influence their coverage in violation of the First Amendment. He’s also signaled his intent to deregulate the broadcast sector to give a handful of powerful media conglomerates even more control over local-broadcast outlets across the country. The loosening of ownership limits over the past 30 years has already radically changed the radio and television broadcasting marketplace — causing rapid consolidation of station ownership and reduction in the number of stations producing news. This harms both broadcast journalists and the communities they serve.

S. Derek Turner, Free Press senior advisor and author of Wednesday’s filing, said:

“Media consolidation is not in the public interest. The local-news market monopolies that would result from further weakening or eliminating broadcast-ownership rules would not produce journalism in service of democratic values, such as having an informed electorate and sparking robust debate on issues of local and national importance. 

“The FCC has been dismantling these ownership safeguards for decades, and now contemplates removing the last of them. Our analysis shows that the agency’s prior retreats from rules prohibiting the growth of local-broadcast conglomerates has already hurt TV viewers and news consumers. The FCC’s continued backsliding on these principles has sparked a competition-killing merger-and-acquisition frenzy. Add to this the Trump administration’s desire to play media kingmaker and extract editorial concessions from conglomerate-owned news outlets and you have a recipe for small-d democratic failure. It’s irresponsible for the Carr FCC to eliminate the remaining limits on runaway consolidation.

“Broadcast-TV chains and their lobbyists claim that consolidation is in the public interest, arguing that mergers and acquisitions result in an increase in local news — and that local reporting declines in the absence of consolidation. This is nonsensical, and it runs counter to all available evidence.

“Television broadcasters continue to do well, and brag to Wall Street that they have cornered the distinct market niche that local-TV stations serve. But those financial fortunes don’t spur greater investment in journalism. These giant companies work to slash costs after mergers — striving to maximize their profits to generate greater returns for shareholders. The trickle-down theory that more revenues will inexorably lead to more spending on local news and information is fanciful and false.

“There’s simply no legitimate financial or economic rationale for eliminating the remaining local-ownership rules. Allowing allegedly local broadcast firms to acquire even more stations — in their existing markets where they already have stations and in new cities throughout the United States — will only expand their control over news and information while decreasing the numbers of local journalists serving their communities. Letting these massive broadcast conglomerates become even more powerful will also increase their ability to extract monopoly rents from advertisers and pay-TV distributors — all while undermining the localism, diversity and competition that local viewers need and deserve.”