from Hacker News

FCC to consider ending merger ban among US broadcast networks

by voxadam on 10/1/25, 1:25 AM with 5 comments

  • by treetalker on 10/1/25, 2:07 AM

    Or … the FCC could reinstate the Fairness Doctrine so that everyone would be exposed to a wider range of views, some of which would challenge their current beliefs and thinking, such that a variety of ideas would battle it out in the arena public discourse and better, more-accurate, and more-beneficial ones would tend to prevail and hold sway.

  • by 3eb7988a1663 on 10/1/25, 1:34 AM

    Is there an example where a merger which was a good result for consumers? Reducing competition from four companies seems destined to be a bad outcome.

  • by JohnFen on 10/1/25, 1:49 PM

    The FCC's actions in this space over the past few decades have already largely destroyed the broadcast media landscape. I'm unsurprised that they're preparing to deal the death blow.

  • by westurner on 10/1/25, 2:34 PM

    "FCC starts process that could loosen TV station ownership rules" (2025) https://youtube.com/watch?v=hvdXMx2cQfE :

    > Currently no single company can own stations reaching more than 39% of TV households in America. Nexstar's proposed acquisition of Tegna would bring that combined company's reach to about 80%; double the current limit. The FCC is also expected to review a rule - tossed out by a federal appeals court in July - that a single company cannot own 2 of the top 4 TV stations in a market. In Denver, Nexstar already owns Fox 31 and Channel 2. The proposed merger would add 9 News and Channel 20. The CEO of Nexstar has said that multiple stations in the same city will be combined.

    Who remembers why we are opposed to corporate consolidation in the media, given "fake news" and "media literacy" in their - the only - two corners?

    From https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35676503 re: labels for state-funded and (S)PAC-funded media (and now sermons, too, of late, btw):

    > Media literacy > Media literacy education: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_literacy#Media_literacy_...

    Though these are or would be Nexstar FOX stations, this film from the tumultuous and still unpaid-for wars of the 2000s is relevant again today:

    "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism" (2004) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outfoxed :

    > "Fair and Balanced"

    The internet says Trump hired Fox News execs Aisles (former RNC chair, former CEO of Fox News) in 2016, and Shine (O'Reilly) in 2018. 21st Century Fox sold to Disney in 2019. Fox News is now a wholly separate company from 21st Century Fox and Fox Theatres.

    Now that the federal government has de-funded The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and thereby PBS and NPR, do they still have to carry the "state-sponsored media label"?

    Oligarchy > United States: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oligarchy#United_states