FCC loses in court, judges say agency would fail “intro statistics class”

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Federal judges yesterday issued a stinging rebuke to the Federal Communications Commission, saying the agency's justification for eliminating media-ownership limits "would receive a failing grade in any introductory statistics class."

The FCC's 2017 decision to eliminate newspaper/broadcast and television/radio cross-ownership rules could allow more media mergers. But the FCC order was vacated in a 2-1 vote by a panel of judges at the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Judges wrote that the FCC "did not adequately consider the effect its sweeping rule changes will have on ownership of broadcast media by women and racial minorities."

The FCC's 2017 order had to consider instructions from previous Third Circuit decisions that went against the commission. But the FCC did not comply with the court's instructions, the judges' ruling said.

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