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FCC commissioner warns of media consolidation and says agency's authority has limits
Summary
FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez told the subcommittee that the commission can gather information and "call out fouls" but that effective change to the Sports Broadcasting Act would require Congress; she also warned that consolidation, foreign ownership concerns and certain FCC waivers pose risks to local journalism.
Commissioner Anna Gomez of the Federal Communications Commission told lawmakers the FCC has an interest in the accessibility of sports programming but that the commission's authority is limited: it can investigate, gather information, and signal concerns, she said, but "any meaningful update to the Sports Broadcasting Act will ultimately require legislative action."
Gomez also criticized what she called the "billionaire buddy bypass," alleging that consolidation and some agency actions have favored powerful companies and foreign investment over local journalism and public interest protections. She warned against waiving statutory ownership caps to allow major companies to reach an outsized share of households, cited a reported $24,000,000,000 financing example tied to a large media acquisition, and said those dynamics can threaten local newsrooms and consumer access.
In exchanges with committee members, Gomez described case examples she called egregious, including FCC investigatory attention directed at local ABC stations and concerns about merger conditions tied to editorial commitments. She said the FCC should gather information and raise public concerns, but that statutory or enforcement changes should be the result of congressional action.
