PK's Feld: Murdoch Retirement and Armstrong Hearing Don't Affect Petition Against Fox

Neither the retirement of Fox Corp. Chair Rupert Murdoch (see 2309210059) nor a recent administrative law judge decision in a hearing proceeding for a Tennessee radio station (see 2309150056) has much bearing on whether the FCC will take up a challenge to a Fox-owned station’s license (see 2307060065), said Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld in a post Thursday on his blog Wet Machine. The Media and Democracy Project’s petition to deny targets Murdoch as unfit to own a license, but even after retirement he will still own enough interest in Fox to be considered to have control of the station under FCC rules, Feld said. Murdoch’s retirement announcement also said he will continue to be involved in Fox's day-to-day operations, Feld said. The recently concluded hearing proceeding on whether Joseph Armstrong was fit to hold the license of WJBE Powell, Tennessee, after being convicted of lying on a tax form doesn’t shed much light on what the FCC is likely to do with MAP's petition because they involve different processes, Feld said. Armstrong’s hearing was a revocation hearing, where the FCC bears the burden of proof, but the Fox proceeding is a license renewal, he said. “Even if the case were precisely on point, the precedential value would be somewhat weak,” Feld said. The MAP petition “is still a long shot overall,” Feld said.