FCC Should Bring Back JSAs and SSAs, HSH Tells Pai
The FCC should reverse its stance on joint sales agreements and shared service agreements to “address the continuing paucity of minority and new entrant broadcast ownership,” said Howard Stirk Holdings (HSH) owner Armstrong Williams and Sinclair Television Group CEO Christopher…
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Ripley in a meeting Thursday with FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai (before being named chairman), according to an ex parte filing in docket 14-50. Without joint sales agreements, Williams, who is African-American, wouldn't have been able to acquire his stations, the filing said. “HSH represents one of only two television station licensee enterprises owned by African American owned companies in the United States today.” The sharing agreements gave HSH access to capital that otherwise wouldn't have been available, and the company faces “ongoing revenue and cost challenges” without them, HSH said. “These are invaluable and effective tools which were taken away by the Commission in the current Quadrennial Review, but which should again be allowed in order to enhance diversity of ownership and content, and help save and enhance local programming and advanced the larger public interest with a focus on local service.”