[20171031]IF10764_媒体所有权规则、多样性和Sinclair Tribune合并.pdf

https:/crsreports.congress.gov October 31, 2017Media Ownership Rules, Diversity, and Sinclair-Tribune MergerOn November 16, 2017, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is expected to vote on whether to retain, relax, and/or repeal regulations that restrict the number of media outlets that a single entity may own or control within a local geographic market. The vote represents a reconsideration of rules the FCC adopted in August 2016, and marks a new phase in a long-running debate over the federal governments role in fostering competition, localism, and diversity in the media. Federal law (47 U.S.C. 257(b) directs the FCC to promote policies favoring a diversity of media voices and vigorous economic competition. The FCC has sought to achieve these goals by limiting common ownership of television stations within the same geographic market and restricting common ownership of television or radio stations and newspapers within the same region. Since 2004, the law (47 U.S.C. 303(h) has directed the FCC to review its media ownership rules every four years to determine whether they are “necessary in the public interest as a result of competition,” and to “repeal or modify any regula