The FCC reviews applicants’ eligibility to ensure compliance with applicable ownership rules for licenses, including media licenses and other authorizations. For example, parties must disclose ownership structures when applying for a license or authorization. Certain parties must also comply with foreign ownership restrictions in accordance with the Communications Act.
Based on authority granted by Congress, the FCC sets limits on the number of broadcast stations (radio and TV stations) an entity may own, and on the common ownership of broadcast stations and newspapers. Congress also requires that the FCC review its media ownership rules every four years to determine “whether any of such rules are necessary in the public interest as a result of competition” and to “repeal or modify any regulation it determines to be no longer in the public interest.”
