The National Association of Broadcasters is not mincing words: The FCC should repeal all of its limits on how many radio and TV stations a broadcaster can own in a single market.
NAB filed its comments Wednesday as part of the commission’s 2022 Quadrennial Review. Its proposal is even more dramatic than what NAB suggested in the previous FCC review cycle.
The central thesis of its argument for removing the caps is that they are simply not applicable to the current digital climate.
(Read NAB’s filed comments in the FCC’s NPRM on media ownership rules.)
“When the commission first adopted rules prohibiting common ownership of AM, FM or television stations serving substantially the same area, Franklin D. Roosevelt occupied the White House,” NAB wrote in the intro to its filing.
In contrast, in a world of smart devices, satellite radio and tech giants like Google and Amazon, many of which offer free programming — often heralded as radio’s most attractive quality — rules that restrict only broadcasters are irrational, it wrote.
“The mere fact that AM/FM radio offers services free to audiences cannot justify retention of burdensome caps and subcaps on ownership of broadcast radio stations alone.”
Our coverage focuses on the local radio ownership rule.
Limits do not apply
Legally, NAB argued that Section 202 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 acts as a “one-way street” requiring the FCC to cut back old regulations as competition grows. The law mandates that if a rule is not proven necessary every four years, it must be loosened or repealed to keep pace with the digital age, NAB said.
The current radio caps were established by Congress as part of the 1996 Telecom act.
During the 2018 Quadrennial Review, NAB proposed eliminating the AM ownership cap in all markets, and in markets 1–75, allowing an entity to own up to eight commercial FM stations, while in markets 76 and lower, eliminating a cap on FM ownership.
[Related: “Consolidation Could Spike if FCC Eases Caps”]
“But given the increased competition in the audio and ad markets just since that time – let alone since 1996 – and the even greater competitive challenges facing radio stations, the FCC now should no longer retain ex ante local radio ownership restrictions in every market,” NAB wrote.
Because the commission is still the regulator, NAB said, its authority over the standard license transfer process is sufficient to protect the public interest without needing arbitrary caps.
“Blanket ownership limits that preemptively bar many transactions – including pro-competitive ones – serve no meaningful regulatory function,” NAB wrote.
Listenership and revenue declines
In support of its argument, NAB pointed to the decline in ownership of terrestrial radios. It cited Edison Research data that showed from 2008–2022, the number of homes with no radio increased from 4% to 39%, with 57% of homes of those ages 12–34 lacking radios.
This is critical, NAB said, because 87% of AM/FM listening occurs via traditional radio, again citing Edison Research data.
NAB also cited declining ad revenues.
It pointed to a Borrell 2025 advertising report that estimated that local digital advertising accounted for approximately 70% of local ad spending in 2024. Local media outlets, including radio and television stations, captured about 15%.
Radio stations’ total advertising revenue for OTA and digital declined about 30% from 2007–2025, according to BIA Advisory Services.
That ad revenue decline, NAB said, led to the shuttering of stations at an “eye-catching” rate, including a decline of 178 commercial FM stations in the U.S. in the five years ending this September.
“NAB also previously documented that radio stations in mid-sized and small markets earn mere fractions of the revenues garnered by stations in the top 10 markets,” it wrote.
How will consolidation help
Owning more stations locally would allow an entity to program “each outlet differently to attract different audiences,” audiences that the broadcaster can then sell to advertisers, NAB argued.
It cited a BIA report using a regression-based analysis that found a “statistically significant positive relationship” between ownership concentration and format diversity.
In fact, NAB said, data from BIA showed that the number of programming formats across all market sizes grew immediately after the Telecom Act deregulation in 1996. From 2006 onward, the number of formats has stagnated or declined.
“No rational owner would air the same or similar programming on its stations but would provide programming across its stations to appeal to the widest range of listeners (and viewers) possible to garner the largest audiences possible,” NAB said.
But only the stations with sufficient revenues, cash flows and investment — all of which NAB said are enhanced by scale — can afford to pay and train digital sales staff to attract additional advertisers in their local markets and better compete for digital advertising share, it said.
NAB also reiterated that the FCC should take the same approach with its remaining local television rule, which currently limits groups to two stations per market.
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