Federal Communications Commission scraps limit on broadcast TV ownership • Hacker News Board

Re: Federal Communications Commission scraps limit on broadcast TV ownership

#111

Post by brewdad » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 4:07 AM UTC

ericmay wrote: post #19

UncleOxidant wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> this spectrum should simply be reassigned for IP based services, with perhaps some set aside for non profit / educational uses, some for commercial, etc. We've got internet, but no cable. So we still watch over-the-air TV, though it's mostly PBS at this point (which is non profit). Also listen to FM radio - mostly NPR, a jazz station and a classical station - all also non-profit.

We have everything and still use antennas for local broadcast: NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, Fox. Sports, especially football, are very easy to access over the air.

The advantage of watching live sports over the air rather than streaming is that there is no delay and the broadcast is as high quality as it can get rather than getting compressed by your streaming app.

Re: Federal Communications Commission scraps limit on broadcast TV ownership

#112

Post by stonogo » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 4:36 AM UTC

rainsford wrote: post #92

disposition2 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If this Baltimore Sun article is accurate, it's worse than that as it sounds like the FCC is overriding a law passed by Congress and not just (re)setting a rule. > The 39% cap was established by Congress in 2004. 1. https://www.baltimoresun.com/2026/08/06/federal-communicatio...

That article seems pretty ironic considering the Baltimore Sun is controlled by the head of Sinclair, a group pursuing (partisan) media consolidation.

This article is syndicated from The Epoch Times, a hard-right Falun Gong mouthpiece pretty well known for spreading conspiracy theories and extremely partisan reporting.

Re: Federal Communications Commission scraps limit on broadcast TV ownership

#113

Post by harrouet » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 6:59 AM UTC

These laws, which exist in a similar way in Europe, intend to prevent media control by closed groups to take over democracy.

To be honest, scraping them on broadcast TV will probably have little influence, even though in the wrong direction, because TV is no longer the media with the most influence.

The real failure is that no one cared to regulate ownership of digital medias, i.e. social networks, Youtube, etc. These have shown documented examples of influencing elections directly.

Re: Federal Communications Commission scraps limit on broadcast TV ownership

#114

Post by kotaKat » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 9:04 AM UTC

rdudek wrote: post #46

sleepybrett wrote: post #12

of course they do. Prepare for sinclair to own everything.

Nexsar is taking over Tegna. Currently tied up in courts, but it's pretty much sinclair-like propaganda machine.

Don't forget Grey Media grabbing the rural circuit.

We've been absorbed by Grey and lost so much local news programming while it gets replaced with "must run" soft story segments from a national "investigateTV" that runs bullshit soft stories for gullible yokels to feel that they're getting news.

Meanwhile my local station (over 60 miles away) can't even run stories in the county they're supposed to cover; when presented stories and footage of rabies vaccine airdrops they'd rather run a story about some old lady watching their syndicated Mr. Food cooking segment they don't even produce for 40 years.

Re: Federal Communications Commission scraps limit on broadcast TV ownership

#115

Post by DoctorOW » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 11:50 AM UTC

sophacles wrote: post #66

francisofascii wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Irrelevant? I was under the impression cord cutting is pretty common. If you want to watch live sports or the news, you need CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX. We use a MoHu antenna in the attic.

You can watch all of these things on the internet (legally).

Even then you're watching them from those broadcast stations. The live channel feeds in those apps is from your local station, and if you're watching any local news it's also clips from your station's newscast. You'll be impacted by fewer perspectives as stations consolidate.

Is easy to think about content from a consumer mindset that everything just exists for you, but no the stuff on the internet is made by real people who are impacted by the works around them.

Re: Federal Communications Commission scraps limit on broadcast TV ownership

#116

Post by trollbridge » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 1:49 PM UTC

UncleOxidant wrote: post #16

trollbridge wrote: post #7

Broadcast TV seems laughably irrelevant. It’s difficult to find official numbers, but under 1% of US households have no cable, satellite TV, home Internet, or a cell phone. The latter two are how people consume video and TV to a large degree today. In exchange, we have a great deal of spectrum tied up for terrestrial TV, much of which goes to running infomercials or else is surreptitiously leased for terrestrial data…

> this spectrum should simply be reassigned for IP based services, with perhaps some set aside for non profit / educational uses, some for commercial, etc. We've got internet, but no cable. So we still watch over-the-air TV, though it's mostly PBS at this point (which is non profit). Also listen to FM radio - mostly NPR, a jazz station and a classical station - all also non-profit.

PBS and the rest of the broadcast industry could just offer streams of their channels over the Internet. It’s a choice they make not to.

(Disclaimer: used to work at PBS on the team with the guy who was tirelessly trying to get them to do this back in 2001.)

Re: Federal Communications Commission scraps limit on broadcast TV ownership

#117

Post by mapt » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 1:49 PM UTC

Finnucane wrote: post #61

ilovetux wrote: post #34

Didn't the supreme court recently overturn the Chevron Doctrine? Doesn't that mean agencies like this are not free to set their own rules when a law is ambiguous? And isnt the cap on number of households reached actually codified unambiguously in federal law? Seems to me like this should not be allowed to happen. Let me know if I am wrong.

The law isn't ambiguous.

What law? The US code? Does that matter anymore?

Congress has made their ruling, now let them enforce it.

Re: Federal Communications Commission scraps limit on broadcast TV ownership

#118

Post by fnordpiglet » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 2:06 PM UTC

jibal wrote: post #77

warkdarrior wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what is this Congress going to do about it? Nothing.

Congress already did something -- it wrote the law. It's the courts that rule against lawbreakers. However, it's the executive branch that takes action against lawbreakers, and that branch is currently utterly corrupt.

The key is who has standing in such a case. Likely broadcasters are the ones most likely to be impacted. Also depending on how the statute is written markets with total monopoly could have standing, individuals to cities.

It’s not just the executive branch who is able to sue in court. Everyone and every company can. But you have to demonstrate you suffered harm and are a legitimate plaintiff.

For changes like this I suspect there’s a lot of people and companies with standing.

Re: Federal Communications Commission scraps limit on broadcast TV ownership

#119

Post by anon7000 » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 4:38 PM UTC

trollbridge wrote: post #7

Broadcast TV seems laughably irrelevant. It’s difficult to find official numbers, but under 1% of US households have no cable, satellite TV, home Internet, or a cell phone. The latter two are how people consume video and TV to a large degree today. In exchange, we have a great deal of spectrum tied up for terrestrial TV, much of which goes to running infomercials or else is surreptitiously leased for terrestrial data…

Why the fuck would I spend thousands of dollars on cable or satellite or streaming when I can buy a $20 antenna once, plug it into the back of any modern TV, and get free channels (including major sporting events) forever?

People don’t use broadcast because they don’t know how to set it up, or because they don’t have a TV, or because they can justify buying cable for whatever reason.