House Appropriations Votes on TV Audience Cap

The House Appropriations Committee voted to roll back the TV audience cap to 35%. The language was an amendment to a funding bill for the FCC and the Commerce, Justice and State Departments.
NAB had supported a 35% figure with no amendments.
In a letter to the chairman and ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, NAB President/CEO Eddie Fritts stated, “We have concerns that any ownership amendments would open the window for a whole host of anti-broadcast amendments.”
The bill goes to the House floor, but the amendment’s future is uncertain.
The action comes as a group of bipartisan senators sought to reverse the FCC’s new media ownership rules.