FCC, Broadcasters Strike Back Against Media Ownership Challenge

• Rule relaxation won’t hurt diversity, agency and allies say

• Advocacy groups seek clear definition of who qualifies for diversity programs

The Federal Communications Commission and a group of broadcasters asked a federal appeals court Feb. 2 not to halt the agency’s relaxation of broadcast ownership limits.

The FCCarguedthat it has sufficiently demonstrated its ownership rule changes won’t stifle diversity of voices in the broadcast industry, in a filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in a challenge by advocacy groups.

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. and the National Association of Broadcasters, an industry trade group, ...