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Incoming FCC chairman Brendan Carr is a big proponent of deregulating the agency and overturning longstanding rules on station ownership limits.

Why it matters: Local TV station owners have long argued that consolidation is needed to compete against Big Tech.

Zoom in: Under Carr and a Republican-controlled FCC, the agency is expected to end, or at least relax, some of its strictest rules on ownership limits that have been in place for decades before the internet existed.

During President-elect Trump's first term, the FCC rolled back some of its ownership rules, though it left the largest ones in place.

Those include: No one company is allowed to own stations that would collectively reach more than 39% of U.S. households. Additionally, no single entity can own more than one of the four largest stations in any single market.

"It is past time for the FCC to confront the harms that its own media ownership policies have caused," Carr wrote last year.

Carr, along with fellow Republican commissioner Nathan Simington, also harshly criticized the FCC's handling of the failed Tegna-Standard General deal, which the FCC's media bureau essentially blocked.

Between the lines: Congress requires the FCC to reconsider the ownership rules every four years in what's called the Quadrennial Review.

Sometimes these reviews can take years; for example, the 2018 review wasn't completed until last December. In that review, the FCC decided against relaxing those ownership caps.

The 2022 review is ongoing, and the next one will start in 2026, midway through Trump's term.

What they're saying: Station groups are as optimistic as they've ever been about the possibility of reduced ownership caps.

"We're very excited about the upcoming regulatory environment," Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley told analysts during the company's earnings call the day after the election. "It does feel like a cloud over the industry is lifting here."

The National Association of Broadcasters, a trade group representing local TV and radio stations, has long favored relaxing the ownership limits.

"We are excited to continue our work with the chairman-designate to level the playing field and remove regulatory barriers that impede investment in local broadcast newsrooms," NAB president and CEO Curtis LeGeyt said in a statement Sunday night.

The other side: The Internet and Television Association, a trade group representing broadband and cable TV companies, wants the FCC to tighten its ownership rules.

This group is concerned that allowing one company to own multiple stations in a single market could give them too much leverage to drive up retransmission fees.

Antitrust and other advocacy groups are also worried that consolidation would push out minority voices.

Local TV M&A expected to surge under Carr-led FCC

The GOP-led agency is expected to reduce ownership caps.

Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr speaks during a House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology Hearing titled Connecting America: Oversight of the FCC, on Capitol Hill on Thursday, March 31, 2022 in Washington, DC. 

The president-elect chose Brendan Carr to lead the FCC. Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Incoming FCC chairman <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Brendan Carr" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/pro/tech-policy/2024/11/18/trump-brendan-carr-fcc" data-vars-content-id="cb55f16d-3125-46cc-9dbc-9052b03f601d" data-vars-headline="Local TV M&amp;A expected to surge under Carr-led FCC" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/pro/tech-policy/2024/11/18/trump-brendan-carr-fcc" target="_self">Brendan Carr</a> is a big proponent of deregulating the agency and overturning longstanding rules on station ownership limits.Why it matters: Local TV station owners have long argued that consolidation is needed to compete against Big Tech.

Local TV M&A expected to surge under Carr-led FCC

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