Wheeler Office Didn't Respond to Overtures, Raycom Says

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's office didn't respond to multiple requests for a meeting from Raycom, the broadcaster said in a letter to Wheeler posted Friday in docket 07-294. “I was disappointed that, although we made several requests to your office to schedule a meeting with you and your staff, we did not receive any response,” wrote CEO Paul McTear. Raycom met (see 1511090037) with the other commissioners in November, and discussed FCC ownership policies and planned changes to the syndicated exclusivity rules. “The existing retransmission consent regime is working exactly as Congress intended and is a critical source of the revenue stations need to invest in high-quality news and other local content,” the TV station owner's chief said. “Outdated rules continue to view virtually any consolidation among broadcast television stations as a threat,” McTear said. “That the Commission already is nearly four years overdue in completing its legally required quadrennial review of broadcast ownership rules surely has contributed to these rules having grown so far out of touch with the modern media market.” The FCC didn't comment.