Prometheus Challenges FCC Media Ownership Decision

Prometheus Radio Project has challenged parts of the Federal Communications Commission's Aug 25 quadrennial ownership review, continuing a legal battle that has been going on for well over a decade. In a filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Prometheus and the Media Mobilizing Project said the FCC once again has failed to satisfy earlier directives from that court by reinstating an earlier definition of eligible entity the court had vacated and remanded "while citing no additional evidence to show that this definition will promote ownership opportunities [for] minorities and women."

Prometheus et al. said that the FCC had acknowledged it had failed to come up with a definition based on one used by the Small Business Administration despite being instructed to do so by the court. Prometheus also challenges the FCC's decision to modify some broadcast ownership rules "so as to permit increased concentration," as well as its "failure" to treat shared services agreements—as it now does most joint sales agreements—as attributable ownership interests subject to local market duopoly rules.