WASHINGTON, DC - Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) issued the following statement after the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the FCC’s decision to limit joint sales agreements:
“This is yet another unsurprising chapter in the FCC’s miserable history on the media ownership rules. We have warned the Commission repeatedly over the past three Congresses that it cannot shirk its statutory responsibility and it cannot cut corners on good process. Today, the court correctly points out that the FCC’s failure to address the media ownership rules in the Quadrennial Review, which at this point is ten years late, is fatal to its actions on joint sales agreements. In other words, the FCC can’t put the cart before the horse, in addition to its many other process failures," said Walden.
He continued, “These failures have real world consequences, taking a particular toll on minority broadcasters and minority media creators, who are already struggling mightily to survive. It is a sad statement on FCC leadership that the agency must be taken to court in order to force it to comply with the plain reading of its statute; this entire process was an unnecessary waste of time and money and taxpayers are footing the bill. This committee will continue its longstanding effort to work on reforming FCC processes and force the FCC to address the years of compounded bad habits that have made it an institution that sees itself as above the law. Instead of tilting after windmills on ISP privacy and other headline-grabbing issues du jour, the FCC should do the work that Congress has assigned."
