FCC Seeks Comment on New TV Rules

WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission started the process Thursday for increasing the number of television stations a single owner can hold.

The commission is asking for public comment on a recommendation that owners be allowed to have 20 or 24 stations nationwide with an overall audience of 35% of total TV viewers.

Response is also requested on a proposal to ease local ownership rules to allow single owners to hold more than one station in the same or nearby areas.

Owners are now restricted to 12 stations nationwide and 25% of the total TV audience. They are prohibited from owning stations so close together that their signals overlap.

Additionally, the commission is seeking comment on possible elimination of the rule against broadcasters owning both a radio and television station in one market.

The commission would also like to change rules outdated because they relate to the time when the only television available to viewers came from ABC, CBS, NBC and public broadcasting.

The commission wants comment on a rule, for example, that prohibits a network such as NBC from owning a local station if the other networks aren’t broadcast on equally strong signals in the area.

This rule has been made obsolete since cable started delivering all the signals equally to viewers in 90% of the nation.

The FCC would like to change other older rules that could stand in the way of new developments--particularly in high-definition television.