The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C....
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit should consolidate all petitions for review against the FCC’s recent crackdown on sharing arrangements, said a joint motion by several nonprofits Thursday. The separate challenges by NAB, Prometheus Radio Project and…
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others against the Media Bureau public notice announcing increased scrutiny for sharing deals and the new rules regulating joint sales agreements “present similar and related factual and legal issues,” said the motion from groups including the Communications Workers of America, Free Press and Prometheus. “Assigning the cases to different panels would create a substantial risk of inconsistent findings and would frustrate the Commission’s goals.” The groups said Prometheus will soon file a motion asking that the cases be moved to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, as expected (CD June 5 p16). In a separate filing, NAB responded to an FCC motion to dismiss its challenge of the processing guidelines announcing extra scrutiny for sharing deals (CD May 13 p3). FCC arguments that the guidelines aren’t a final commission decision and therefore are ineligible for judicial review are an “administrative law shell game,” NAB said. Though the bureau notice announcing the guidelines characterizes them as guidance rather than a new rule, “it was plainly designed to operate as a set of binding legal norms for the agency and affected broadcasters, and it was impliedly approved by the Commission,” NAB said.