Demonstrators Call for FCC Vote on Standard/Tegna; Carr Says Only Chair Can Do That

Protesters called on the FCC to hold a vote on the Standard/Tegna deal Thursday morning at a demonstration outside FCC headquarters, prompting the agency to remind open meeting attendees of the agency’s rules. Though Standard General Managing Partner Soohyung Kim has said he believes three commissioners can force a vote on the deal, one of those commissioners seen as supportive of the transaction said Thursday he doesn’t believe that is possible. “There is no mechanism in FCC rules for non-chair commissioners, no matter how many of them are in support of a particular position, to force a vote on anything,” Commissioner Brendan Carr said in a news conference.

Behind the scenes, the broadcasters, public interest groups and FCC Enforcement Bureau filed their arguments for a briefing schedule for the FCC’s hearing proceeding, which Standard has said won’t ever come to fruition due to the breakup of the deal’s financing May 22. Broadcasters have asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to rule on the broadcasters’ petition for mandamus by Friday.

With T-shirts and signs extolling local journalism and calling on the agency to “Hold the Vote,” dozens of demonstrators protested loudly outside FCC headquarters and several also attended the commissioners' open meeting, which began with FCC Secretary Marlene Dortch reading an unusual reminder about the agency’s rules. Audience members aren’t permitted to address the commission when the meeting is in progress or present documents to agency staff during the meeting, Dortch warned. She didn’t mention the protesters in the announcement but said it was connected with the FCC's return to full pre-COVID-19 pandemic operation May 15 and the anticipation of more public attendance at meetings. FCC officials told us the demonstrators didn’t attempt to interrupt the meeting or submit documents to agency staff. Standard General and the FCC declined to comment.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel at a post-meeting news conference Thursday repeatedly declined to comment on the deal's fate, citing the FCC’s pending hearing proceeding and ongoing litigation before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. In his own news conference, Carr said the applications deserve an up or down vote but that only the chairwoman could cause that to happen. Broadcast attorneys have told us that historically the agency has allowed “must-vote” scenarios wherein three commissioners could force a vote on an item, but they also said this is more tradition than regulation and ultimately at the chair’s discretion. The only commissioner who hasn’t publicly taken a stance on the deal, Democrat Geoffrey Starks, is not expected to break ranks with Rosenworcel on Standard/Tegna. The agency should be cognizant of the signals it sends by discouraging investment in broadcasting and the effect that could have on local journalism, Carr said. “This is sort of a break-glass moment for broadcasters,” he said.

No additional discovery is necessary in the Standard/General hearing proceeding and FCC Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin should issue a decision by May 17, said Standard General, Tegna and Cox Media Group in a proposed schedule posted Thursday in docket 22-162. The proceeding’s initial status conference is Wednesday. Such a speedy schedule would require waivers of FCC procedures but is “necessary to preserve any possibility” for FCC action before the May 22 breakup date, the broadcasters said. With no discovery and extremely foreshortened deadlines, the broadcasters' proposed schedule is “tantamount to not having a hearing at all,” said the FCC Enforcement Bureau. The EB and the union and public interest groups opposing the deal called for a schedule that would lead to a decision in 2024, and said additional discovery is required. “There is no basis for the Presiding Judge to toss aside the Commission’s hearing rules and traditional timing and procedures” for “a drastically truncated case schedule” because of “Applicants’ personal economic interest,” the EB said.

The shortest previous period between HDO and FCC action was 358 days, according to statistics compiled by the Standard/Tegna. The schedule proposed in the broadcast filing would resolve the matter in roughly 80. The EB and the opposition parties both said there was little point in preparing filings in the matter if Standard and Tegna will invalidate the proceeding by dissolving the deal May 22. The broadcasters should state at Wednesday's hearing whether they will continue to participate after May 22, said the Communications Workers of America's NewsGuild and National Association of Broadcast Engineers and Technicians sectors, Common Cause and the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry in their schedule filing.