FCC Removes Limit on TV Station Ownership

Sep 1

NEWS & RESEARCH

In August 2026, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to repeal a restriction that prevented any one broadcast company from owning stations that collectively reach more than 39% of all TV households in the US. The cap had been put in place by Congress to bar any single conglomerate from monopolizing the industry and controlling what the public watches. With the cap repealed, the FCC says it will review merger transactions that would exceed the 39% threshold on a case-by-case basis, giving more discretion to the Trump-appointed FCC Chair, Brendan Carr. Thus, the move is considered a “big win” for Republican-owned, Trump-aligned broadcast companies. However, even before officially repealing the cap on paper, the FCC had already issued a waiver earlier in the year that allowed Nexstar Media Group (which owns local affiliates of major networks such as ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX) to merge with another media giant, Tegna, thereby extending its reach to 80% of American households.

SOURCES: The Guardian | CNN | Reuters | Deadline | NPR

ANALYSIS & OPINION

Anna Gomez, the sole Democrat on the FCC, voted no on the repeal, arguing that the agency’s actions were unlawful, as “Congress set this cap in federal law, and only Congress can change it.” After all, a regulatory agency cannot override something put into place by the legislature. Thus, even Republicans like Ted Cruz have expressed that they are skeptical that the FCC’s actions are legal. However, many also wonder about the impacts on free press. Gomez says that the change means a small number of huge companies—mainly led by Trump’s cronies—will dictate what airs on TV. She says, “Your local newsroom used to decide what you got to watch. Now that decision increasingly runs through whether it pleases the White House. And without a consumer protection measure like the national ownership cap in place, it will only get worse.” One example: in September 2025, after conservative outrage over Jimmy Kimmel's late-night monologue, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr publicly warned ABC affiliates that they could "do this the easy way or the hard way"—and Nexstar pre-empted the show within hours, while its $6.2 billion bid for Tegna sat awaiting FCC approval. California Gov. Gavin Newsom said the FCC’s action “flagrantly flouts longstanding limits on media monopolies set by Congress. This will make it easier for Trump, through his proxies and toadies, to control what Americans see, hear, and read. This attack on independent, local news is straight out of a dictator’s playbook.”

SOURCES: The Guardian | CNN | Reuters | Deadline | NPR

HOW TO FIX IT

Federal action: Section 202(c)(1) of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (as amended by the 2004 Consolidated Appropriations Act) instructed the FCC to "modify its rules" to set the limit at 39% of American television households, but the FCC is claiming that it has the power to change its rules.

Reintroduce and pass the Preservation of Localism, Program Diversity, and Competition in Television Broadcast Service Act, which would codify the cap as a prohibition, not a rulemaking instruction. It would explicitly bar the FCC from approving any sale or transfer that pushes a company past 39%, or even lower, and also contains clear language which states that the FCC may not waive, suspend, repeal, or modify the cap without an act of Congress. (Note though, that this legislation was first introduced in 2003, when the cap was still set at 35%.)

Bar broadcasters from exceeding the limit. Section 202(c)(1) was directed toward the FCC by requiring the agency to establish and enforce the cap. However, it doesn’t explicitly bar broadcasters from surpassing that limit. Congress can pass legislation stating that no single entity may own, control, or have attributable interest in stations reaching more than 39% of US TV households, thereby placing the limit on the broadcasters themselves rather than on the FCC's rulebook. A cap that companies must obey is one the FCC cannot lift on their behalf.

Amend the Communications Act of 1934. According to this law, the FCC can make “rules and regulations as may be necessary” (47 U.S.C. § 303(r)) and approve mergers that serve the “public interest” (47 U.S.C. § 310(d))—logic the agency used to claim authority to eliminate the cap. Congress can amend § 303(r) to explicitly exclude national ownership limits from general rulemaking, and add language to § 310(d) clarifying that the FCC’s actions in the “public interest” are still subject to limits enacted by Congress.
Reintroduce and pass the Local and Independent Television Protection Act (LITPA). Even if the 39% cap is restored, many media conglomerates would still be able to bypass it by using an obsolete accounting trick called the “UHF discount,” which allows companies to only account for 50% of their market population. Thus, a broadcaster reaching 72% of US television households could claim on paper that it only reaches 36%. LITPA would eliminate this carve-out.

Litigation:

Groups like Free Press have vowed to challenge the FCC’s decision in court. A senior counselor at the Benton Institute says that the FCC’s odds of losing are "better than 50/50," with the outcome turning heavily on which circuit draws the case.
State-led antitrust suits against mega-mergers. A bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general sued over Nexstar's $6.2 billion acquisition of Tegna, and in April 2026 won a preliminary injunction from a federal judge. The deal had already closed, so the order does not unwind it—instead it freezes integration, requiring Tegna to keep operating separately while the case proceeds. That distinction matters: by litigating under Section 7 of the Clayton Antitrust Act—which bars mergers that substantially lessen competition—the states bypassed the FCC's regulatory posture entirely and reached a deal the agency had already approved. Even where an aligned FCC waives caps or approves consolidation, state antitrust enforcement remains an independent backstop in federal court.

Legislation: S.1046 - Preservation of Localism, Program Diversity, and Competition in Television Broadcast Service Act | H.R.3478 - Local and Independent Television Protection Act