NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt delivered a clear message yesterday on Capitol Hill: outdated regulations are undermining local journalism. During a Senate Commerce Committee hearing titled “We Interrupt This Program: Media Ownership in the Digital Age,” LeGeyt explained how rules written for a different era limit local stations’ ability to compete, invest and serve their communities.
Why it Matters
Local broadcast television is free to every household with a TV and an antenna. Our journalists are on the ground covering local stories and emergency situations when it matters most. Not Netflix. Not YouTube. Not Newsmax. Yet, those Big Tech behemoths and national cable programmers are our competitors in the marketplace as we compete for advertising and viewers.
Local TV stations are competing in a marketplace that has changed dramatically in the last two decades. And yet, broadcasters are restricted by a 39% national ownership cap limit that applies to none of our competitors.
Today, streaming garners at least half of viewing and Big Tech platforms are siphoning advertising from local communities at a rapid pace. The cap, by limiting broadcasters’ ability to grow, hurts stations’ ability to invest in local journalism, programming and new technology.
LeGeyt emphasized that scale is not the enemy of localism. Local news production is expensive, and economies of scale make it possible to invest in stronger newsrooms and higher-quality programming. Local is the calling card of TV broadcasters – we want to invest in our newsrooms and provide the trusted journalism that our viewers expect and deserve.
It’s Time to Act
There is growing support for lifting the national cap and allowing local stations to compete, from voters to numerous lawmakers to President Trump. Now, it’s time for the FCC to act. NAB is asking FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to move quickly to lift the national cap so local stations can invest, innovate and keep serving communities.
Watch the highlight video below to hear directly why modernizing these rules matters for local journalism, public safety and democracy.
