LeGeyt: Standard/Tegna HDO Threatens Future of Broadcast Deals
The FCC’s “unprecedented” actions on Standard/Tegna “raise serious concerns about the future of ALL broadcast transactions which may have a profound impact on broadcast viewers,” wrote NAB CEO Curtis LeGeyt in a blog post Thursday. “Every industry under the regulatory…
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microscope of the FCC should be asking themselves if they are next” said LeGeyt. FCC staffers “who are not accountable to the public” as commissioners are “should not be allowed to make a final determination sending a multi-billion-dollar transaction to the gallows,” said LeGeyt. The Standard/Tegna deal showed the FCC’s 180-day shot clock is an “illusion,” and long delays in merger reviews keep companies from making needed operational changes, he said. The agency’s public interest review standard is too “amorphous” and allows the FCC to justify actions using “ad hoc concerns unrelated to its mandate,” the blog post said. “Ensuring that a given transaction complies with the FCC’s rules should be the primary focus of merger review, rather than allowing for arbitrary demands that fall outside the FCC’s oversight,” LeGeyt said. The agency’s handling of the review “has exposed the flaws in the current system of transaction review, and it is our hope that FCC will reverse course and correct this miscarriage of justice.” The FCC released an order Thursday memorializing Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin's ruling Wednesday (see 2304260066) putting the transaction's hearing proceeding on hold until June 1.