{"id":2651837,"date":"2026-08-30T05:11:02","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T09:11:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/conservatives-clash-over-fccs-bid-to-scrap-tv-ownership-cap\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T05:16:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T09:16:22","slug":"conservatives-clash-over-fccs-bid-to-scrap-tv-ownership-cap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/conservatives-clash-over-fccs-bid-to-scrap-tv-ownership-cap\/","title":{"rendered":"Conservatives clash over FCCs bid to scrap TV ownership cap"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fconservatives-clash-over-fccs-bid-to-scrap-tv-ownership-cap%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2651837&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Brendan Carr, chairman of the FCC, is pushing too eliminate a longstanding congressional rule that limits television station ownership to 39% of U.S.households. The FCC&#8217;s 2-1 vote to replace the hard cap with a case-by-case approval process reflects conservative priorities to deregulate the media industry and prevent the decline of local TV stations. Carr argues that the regulation is outdated due to changes from cable, streaming, and the internet, and that removing it would help local broadcasters remain viable. Critics, including legal experts and some conservatives, question whether the FCC has the authority to override Congress\u2019s explicit law, emphasizing that the 39% limit was established by legislation over two decades ago. The debate highlights larger issues about the limits of agency power and the potential precedent such deregulation coudl set, with concerns that future administrations might exploit broad agency authority to pursue policies contrary to congressional intent.The controversy also involves a major media merger and reflects tensions within the republican Party over how far to deregulate without congressional approval. the situation raises significant legal and constitutional questions about agency overreach and the future of media ownership rules.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/federal-communications-commission\/\">Federal Communications Commission<\/a> Chairman <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/premium\/4606241\/brendan-carr-attack-tv-stations-echoes-fcc-chairman-under-jfk\/\">Brendan Carr\u2019s<\/a> push to eliminate a congressionally imposed <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/business\/4555937\/brendan-carr-fcc-media-bureau-nexstar-tegna-merger-not-final\/\">limit on television station ownership<\/a> is putting two longtime conservative priorities into direct conflict: deregulating the media industry and restraining the power of federal agencies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The FCC voted 2-1 on Aug. 6 to <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/media-telecom\/us-agency-votes-end-39-local-tv-station-ownership-cap-2026-08-06\/\">eliminate the rule<\/a> barring a single company from owning television stations reaching more than 39% of U.S. households, replacing the hard ceiling with a case-by-case approach to proposed transactions.<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4704724\/brendan-carr-fcc-ownership-cap-agency-power\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Conservatives clash over Brendan Carr\u2019s bid to scrap congressionally mandated TV ownership cap<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/4704843\/walmart-doj-settlement-opioid-dispensing-controlled-substances-act\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Walmart settles with DOJ over alleged unlawful opioid dispensing<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/4701237\/iowa-montana-plot-paramount-merger-fight-supreme-court\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Iowa and Montana plot taking Paramount merger fight to Supreme Court<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Carr argues the decades-old restriction is obsolete in a media landscape transformed by cable, streaming, and the internet, and that allowing broadcasters to grow is necessary to keep local television financially viable.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-1\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-1\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-15\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-1\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe should stop hamstringing this one segment of the broader market with outdated restrictions,\u201d Carr said, warning that he does not want local broadcast television \u201cto go the way of local newspapers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the fight is increasingly about something larger than whether 39% remains the right number. Unlike many regulations an administration can rewrite, the 39% limit was <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fcc.gov\/general\/telecommunications-act-1996\">explicitly established by Congress more than two decades ago.<\/a> That has prompted an unusual question on the Right: Can an agency dispense with a restriction Congress itself enacted because the agency now believes the policy no longer makes sense?<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For conservatives who have spent years pushing courts to rein in the administrative state, critics say the answer could have consequences far beyond broadcast television.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-2\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-2\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-16\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-2\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe question isn\u2019t should we. The question is can we?\u201d said Lawrence Spiwak, president of the Phoenix Center and an adjunct law professor who has written extensively on telecommunications and administrative law.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Spiwak said he supports reconsidering outdated media ownership rules as a policy matter but does not believe the FCC has the statutory authority to eliminate the cap itself.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf the commission can say, \u2018I can just waive whatever statute I want,\u2019 it sets up a horrible precedent,\u201d Spiwak said, speaking to the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-3\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-3\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-17\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-3\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The concern is also coming from one of the most powerful Republicans with oversight of the FCC.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-TX) has <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/senate\/4453108\/bipartisan-unease-nexstar-tegna-merger-senate-hearing\/\">repeatedly questioned<\/a> whether Carr\u2019s FCC is staying within its legal authority, including in its <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/in_focus\/3906164\/nexstar-tegna-local-tv-merger-trump-affordability\/\">handling of Nexstar\u2019s acquisition of Tegna<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a March interview with the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>, Cruz objected to the FCC allowing its Media Bureau to approve the transaction rather than putting the matter before the full commission.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-4\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-4\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-25\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-4\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI had been quite vocal that this should not have been decided at the bureau level, that this required a full commission,\u201d Cruz said. \u201cI think it was not authorized to be done at the bureau level.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cruz pointedly cast the issue as one of principle rather than party.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019ve been outspoken about that when the Biden FCC tried to do that, and I think it is equally wrong [when] this FCC does,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wex-inarticle-ad wex-inarticle-ad-art-dsk-inart-5\">\n<div class=\"wex-ad-wrap wex-ad-art-dsk-inart-5\" style=\"min-height:90px\"><span class=\"wex-ad-label\" hidden>Advertisement<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-3182201-26\" data-wex-ad=\"art-dsk-inart-5\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Asked whether he worried about the precedent created when major decisions are made without direct accountability from presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed commissioners, Cruz said, \u201cOf course.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf it can be done without accountability from the presidentially appointed and Senate confirmed commissioners, that\u2019s a real problem,\u201d Cruz said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cruz has separately expressed skepticism that the FCC has the legal authority to change the 39% ownership limit without congressional action, putting him at odds with Carr over the commission\u2019s power to act unilaterally, even as both Republicans have questioned whether existing broadcast ownership restrictions are outdated.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-a-republican-made-compromise\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">A Republican-made compromise<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The origins of the 39% limit make that Republican split particularly striking. The national ownership cap had stood at 35% when the Republican-led FCC voted in 2003 to raise it to 45%, part of a broader effort under then-Chairman Michael Powell to loosen media ownership restrictions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Congress pushed back, including Republicans who controlled both chambers. Republican Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska backed an effort to restore the 35% threshold, while the George W. Bush administration threatened to veto legislation overturning the FCC\u2019s deregulatory changes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Republican congressional leaders and the Bush White House ultimately settled on 39% as a compromise. Congress included the provision in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2004, which Bush signed into law in January of that year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The history is significant to the current dispute because Congress was not merely silent about how many households a television station owner could reach. Lawmakers intervened after the FCC attempted to establish a different threshold and imposed their own.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Spiwak said the language Congress adopted leaves little room for the agency to disregard it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt is a hard cap, and Congress put it in there as a hard cap,\u201d he said. \u201cThe fact that you just go, \u2018Well, I\u2019m just waiving a hard cap that\u2019s in law,\u2019 I don\u2019t see how you have the authority to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The fight also puts Carr in an awkward position with conservatives who have spent years arguing that federal agencies should not be able to stretch the law beyond what Congress intended. That effort scored a major victory in 2024, when the Supreme Court made it harder for agencies to claim broad powers when federal law is unclear.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Spiwak said Carr is now relying on the kind of expansive agency authority conservatives have long warned against.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou\u2019ve got to keep these agencies within their statutory lanes,\u201d he said. \u201cCongress delegates to an agency specific statutory authority. You know, do you live within that or not?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The fight has taken on greater significance around Nexstar\u2019s $3.54 billion acquisition of Tegna, which formally closed in March after receiving FCC and Justice Department approval. But the deal remains <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/restoring-america\/fairness-justice\/4593704\/dont-let-regulators-kill-nextar-tegna-merger-directv\/\">the subject of an antitrust challenge<\/a> from a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general, and a federal judge has ordered Nexstar and Tegna to remain operationally separate while the litigation proceeds. If ultimately allowed to fully integrate, the combined company would own stations reaching roughly 80% of U.S. television households.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Carr has argued that loosening ownership restrictions would <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >give local station owners<\/a> more resources to invest in programming while strengthening their bargaining position against national networks. But critics on the Right are increasingly focused on what happens after Carr and President Donald Trump leave office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If courts accept a broad interpretation of the FCC\u2019s ability to get around a restriction imposed by Congress, conservatives worry a future Democratic administration could attempt to invoke similar reasoning when pursuing policies Republicans oppose. For Spiwak, that is precisely why conservatives should be wary even if they support Carr\u2019s desired policy outcome.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFor somebody who cares about constraining the administrative state, you can\u2019t selectively choose which rule you like and which one you don\u2019t,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNobody stays in power forever,\u201d Spiwak added, warning that an aggressive assertion of agency authority can take on a life beyond the administration that first embraced it. \u201cYou do have a very troubling precedential value.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Clay Calvert, a fellow at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute, similarly said the 39% figure itself may no longer make sense given dramatic changes in where people consume news and where advertising dollars flow.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From a traditional conservative perspective, Calvert said, eliminating an outdated regulation is attractive. But the method matters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Calvert pointed to the Supreme Court\u2019s <em>Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo<\/em> decision, which made it harder for federal agencies to broadly interpret laws passed by Congress. Conservatives celebrated the ruling as an important check on the administrative state. But Calvert said Carr\u2019s approach could cut the other way by giving the FCC more discretion, not less. Instead of a clear 39% limit, the commission would decide on a case-by-case basis whether a media deal serves the \u201cpublic interest,\u201d giving whoever controls the FCC more say over which mergers can move forward. And that power would not necessarily stay in Republican hands.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe decisions about ownership that we make during the Trump administration era will outlast\u201d both Trump and Carr, Calvert said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhat goes around comes around,\u201d Calvert said, warning that the approach could \u201ccome around and bite Republicans later on down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/in_focus\/3906164\/nexstar-tegna-local-tv-merger-trump-affordability\/\"><strong>HOW ONE OF THE BIGGEST LOCAL TV MERGERS EVER COULD BLOW A HOLE IN TRUMP\u2019S AFFORDABILITY PUSH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The dispute now leaves the FCC\u2019s authority to eliminate the congressionally established limit poised for legal scrutiny, even as Republicans who favor deregulation remain divided over how far the agency can go without lawmakers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> reached out to the FCC for comment on the legal concerns surrounding the commission\u2019s decision and its authority to eliminate the 39% cap but did not receive a response.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FCC&#8217;s move to remove TV ownership cap sparks conservative clash<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2657,"featured_media":2651838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP26212629566037_2c62cc.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651,538],"tags":[4539,16609,52532,38654,84867],"class_list":["post-2651837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","category-washington-examiner","tag-conservatives","tag-fcc","tag-media-regulation","tag-policy-debate","tag-tv-ownership-cap"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP26212629566037_2c62cc.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2651837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2657"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2651837"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2651837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2651841,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2651837\/revisions\/2651841"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2651838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2651837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2651837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2651837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}