By Mark Sherman
WASHINGTON (AP) --The Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously upheld federal regulators' decision to ease ownership limits on local media, rejecting a claim that the change would hurt minority and female ownership.
The court said the Federal Communications Commission acted reasonably in 2017 when it modified rules that predated the internet.
The old rules prohibited a single entity from owning a radio or TV station and a daily newspaper in the same media market. They also limited how many radio and TV stations one company could own in a single market and restricted the number of TV stations a company could operate in one media market.
"The FCC considered the record evidence on competition, localism, viewpoint diversity, and minority and female ownership, and reasonably concluded that the three ownership rules no longer serve the public interest," Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote for the court.
The decision comes as newspaper and broadcasting industries say they need the changes to deal with growing competition from the internet and cable companies.
The FCC adopted the changes on a party-line, 3-2 vote, with three Republican-appointed commissioners in the majority. The dissenting Democratic appointees and other critics said the changes would encourage consolidation and hurt diversity.
Republicans have long sought changes to the media-ownership rules. The FCC in 2017, then-run by a Republican chairman, decided that since the internet has so changed media, allowing more consolidation in newspapers and broadcasters would be good for consumers.
The FCC now has a Democratic chairwoman who dissented from the 2017 order. But it is not yet fully staffed to let it take on controversial measures.
Acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said she was "disappointed" in the court's decision.
Advocacy groups that oppose the growing consolidation of the industry called on the FCC, the Biden administration and Congress to develop new rules to encourage local, diverse ownership.
"I wouldn't be surprised if this decision opens the floodgates to more consolidation for media conglomerates. But that doesn't mean the FCC has to approve every merger that comes knocking on its door," said Yosef Getachew, Media & Democracy Program Director for Common Cause.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had blocked FCC efforts to change the rules for the past 17 years. The Philadelphia-based court's latest ruling, in 2019, prompted the FCC's appeal to the Supreme Court.The FCC is supposed to review media-ownership rules every four years, according to a 1996 law.
Associated Press writer Tali Arbel contributed to this report from Phoenix.
Harvey Weinstein hit with new sex crime charge in New York
Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a new sex crime charge in New York, as he awaits retrial in his landmark #MeToo case.
Details of the new allegations were not immediately available. He was charged with committing a criminal sex act.
The jailed ex-movie mogul has long maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
Prosecutors revealed last week that Weinstein had been indicted on additional sex crime charges that weren't part of the case that led to his now-overturned 2020 conviction. But the new indictment was sealed until his arraignment.
Prosecutors have said that the grand jury heard evidence of up to three alleged assaults — two in hotels in the Tribeca neighborhood and one at a lower Manhattan residential building. The purported incidents took place from the mid-2000s to 2016, prosecutors said.
But it's not clear whether any of those allegations underlie the new indictment.
While bracing for the new charges, Weinstein also is awaiting retrial after New York state's highest court this spring overturned his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges involving two women. The high court, called the Court of Appeals, ordered a new trial, which is tentatively scheduled to begin Nov. 12.
The Court of Appeals ruled that the then-trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations that were not part of the case. That judge's term expired in 2022, and he is no longer on the bench.
Prosecutors have said they'll seek to fold the new charges into the retrial, but Weinstein's lawyers say it should be a separate case.
Weinstein, who also was convicted in 2022 in a Los Angeles rape case, remains behind bars while awaiting his New York retrial.
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