Media Consolidation

“I think the background definitely changes with a flip of the House. There is going to be more oversight, probably some attempts to draw up legislation,” said former FCC commissioner Michael Copps, now an adviser to watchdog group Common Cause.

The discrepancy is “nothing new in the sense of filing one thing with the FCC and telling the customers something else,” says Yosef Getachew of the watchdog group Common Cause, which is among advocacy groups that are fighting to block the merger.

So-called "fake" news isn't the only issue people should be concerned about with respect to the media. Even real news has an "infotainment" quality that lends itself to a herd mentality and the corporate mergers that consolidate decision-making in distant corporate HQ that care more about profit and dividends than covering city hall or the school board.

Yesterday, Common Cause joined Consumer’s Union, New America’s Open Technology Institute, Public Knowledge, and Writer’s Guild of America West, Inc. in filing a petition with the Federal Communications Commission asking the agency to deny the proposed $26 billion merger of T-Mobile US Inc. and Sprint Corporation. If approved, the number of national wireless carriers would be reduced from four to three, leading to less competition and higher prices for consumers. Low-income and marginalized communities who disproportionately rely on T-Mobile and Sprint for more affordable services may also find themselves displaced from wireless access.

Today, the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit issued an opinion on the legal challenge to the FCC’s decision to reinstate the UHF Discount. Common Cause was one of the petitioners to file the legal challenge. The DC Circuit dismissed the case finding that the petitioners did not demonstrate sufficient standing.

“There was a tremendous public outcry against this merger,” said Michael Copps, a former FCC commissioner who opposed media consolidation and now serves as a senior adviser to Common Cause, an opponent of the Sinclair deal. “How much influence it had on Ajit Pai, I don’t really know. I think public outcry did make a difference.”