The cable television groups’ filing stated the FCC repeal of the television ownership cap breaks the 2004 action by United States legislators. The choice by Congress to set the cap at an exact mathematical limit was unambiguous, the filing stated.

“Congress developed the National Cap at 39 percent in the 2004 CAA [Consolidated Appropriations Act] in direct reaction to the FCC’s effort to strongly raise the Cap to 45 percent and made repetitive referrals to the 39 percent Cap in the statute,” the petition stated.

The petition to the FCC is generally a procedural action as the commission isn’t most likely to remain its own order. The cable television groups stated they plan to take legal action against the commission in a United States appeals court as soon as the FCC order is released in the Federal Register. After the suit is submitted, they can ask the court to release an initial injunction that would keep the television ownership cap in location pending the result of lawsuits.

The filing was sent by cable television market groups that represent service providers in Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, and the 6 New England states. The state and local groups represent big and little cable television business, consisting of the country’s most significant cable television operators Comcast, Charter, and Cox.

FCC states it can alter or get rid of guideline

The FCC order released recently stated that although Congress picked the 39 percent limitation, the law set the limitation by “directing the Commission to customize its guidelines instead of by enacting a repaired cap into law.” The FCC argues it “has the authority and commitment to reconsider the nationwide cap guideline in action to altering scenarios and to customize or rescind it if it no longer serves the general public interest.”

While the 2004 law mentions the FCC can not reverse or customize the cap throughout its quadrennial evaluations of media guidelines, the FCC argues it can remove the cap if it does so outside the quadrennial evaluation procedure. The law “just separates the Commission’s choices to examine the nationwide cap from the statutorily mandated evaluation of other media ownership guidelines that are to happen every 4 years,” the FCC stated.