Cable lobby to sue Trump FCC over repeal of national TV ownership cap
Cable lobby to sue Trump FCC over repeal of national TV ownership cap
有线电视游说团体将起诉特朗普政府时期的 FCC，反对废除全国电视所有权上限
Cable lobby groups notified the Federal Communications Commission that they will sue the agency to block its controversial repeal of the National Television Ownership Rule, which limits the number of broadcast TV stations a single company may own. 有线电视游说团体已通知联邦通信委员会（FCC），他们将起诉该机构，以阻止其废除备受争议的“全国电视所有权规则”。该规则限制了单一公司所能拥有的广播电视频道数量。
The cable groups said that larger broadcast TV station groups will have leverage to demand higher retransmission fees from TV providers, resulting in “higher monthly TV bills for consumers.” They said the FCC repeal order “arbitrarily and capriciously ignores the harms that will surely follow from allowing broadcast station groups to exceed the National Cap.” 有线电视团体表示，规模更大的广播电视集团将有筹码向电视服务提供商索要更高的转播费，从而导致“消费者的每月电视账单上涨”。他们称，FCC 的废除令“武断且反复无常地忽视了允许广播电视集团突破全国上限后必然带来的危害”。
The cable lobby groups represent top providers Comcast, Charter, and various other cable operators. Top cable companies have also expanded through mergers. Charter completed a purchase of Cox in August after the FCC rejected protests by advocacy groups that said the cable deal “would create unchecked gatekeeper power over Internet distribution” and make it easier for the biggest cable companies to raise prices. 这些有线电视游说团体代表了康卡斯特（Comcast）、特许通讯（Charter）以及其他多家有线电视运营商。顶级有线电视公司也通过并购不断扩张。在 FCC 驳回了倡导团体的抗议后，特许通讯于 8 月完成了对考克斯（Cox）的收购。此前，倡导团体曾指出，该交易“将对互联网分发产生不受限制的把关权力”，并使最大的有线电视公司更容易提高价格。
The FCC voted to eliminate the TV ownership rule on August 6, and finally published the repeal order on its website on October 1 after an unusually long delay. The delay may be explained by the FCC shoring up its legal arguments in anticipation of lawsuits because the agency is claiming authority to repeal a limit set by Congress over 20 years ago. FCC 于 8 月 6 日投票决定取消电视所有权规则，并在经历了异常漫长的延迟后，最终于 10 月 1 日在其网站上发布了废除令。这种延迟可能是因为 FCC 在预见到诉讼的情况下，正在加强其法律论据，因为该机构声称有权废除国会 20 多年前设定的限制。
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has said that replacing a strict ownership limit with a “case-by-case review” of each proposed merger will let the agency approve deals that promote the public interest while rejecting deals that do not. Given Carr’s history of threatening to revoke licenses from broadcasters disfavored by President Trump, case-by-case reviews would let Carr influence news coverage of the administration by allowing favored broadcast companies to expand. FCC 主席布伦丹·卡尔（Brendan Carr）表示，用针对每项拟议合并的“个案审查”取代严格的所有权限制，将使该机构能够批准符合公共利益的交易，同时拒绝不符合利益的交易。鉴于卡尔此前曾威胁要吊销特朗普总统不喜欢的广播公司的执照，这种个案审查制度将使卡尔能够通过允许受青睐的广播公司扩张，从而影响对政府的新闻报道。
Cable lobby petition
有线电视游说团体的请愿
The TV ownership rule prohibits any single broadcast station owner from reaching more than 39 percent of all TV households in the US. Congress directed the FCC to set the cap at 39 percent in 2004. On Friday, cable lobby groups submitted a petition asking the FCC to keep the TV ownership cap in place until litigation over the FCC’s authority to repeal the rule is over. 电视所有权规则禁止任何单一广播电台所有者覆盖超过美国所有电视家庭 39% 的份额。国会曾于 2004 年指示 FCC 将上限设定为 39%。周五，有线电视游说团体提交了一份请愿书，要求 FCC 在关于其废除该规则的权力诉讼结束前，维持电视所有权上限不变。
The cable groups’ filing said the FCC repeal of the TV ownership cap violates the 2004 action by US lawmakers. The decision by Congress to set the cap at a precise numerical threshold was unambiguous, the filing said. “Congress established the National Cap at 39 percent in the 2004 CAA [Consolidated Appropriations Act] in direct response to the FCC’s attempt to aggressively raise the Cap to 45 percent and made repeated references to the 39 percent Cap in the statute,” the petition said. 有线电视团体的文件称，FCC 废除电视所有权上限的行为违反了美国立法者 2004 年的法案。文件中指出，国会将上限设定为精确数值阈值的决定是明确无误的。请愿书称：“国会在 2004 年的《综合拨款法案》（CAA）中将全国上限设定为 39%，这是对 FCC 试图将上限激进提高至 45% 的直接回应，且法案中多次提到了 39% 的上限。”
The petition to the FCC is mainly a procedural step as the commission isn’t likely to stay its own order. The cable groups said they intend to sue the commission in a US appeals court once the FCC order is published in the Federal Register. After the lawsuit is filed, they can ask the court to issue a preliminary injunction that would keep the TV ownership cap in place pending the outcome of litigation. 向 FCC 提交请愿书主要是一个程序性步骤，因为委员会不太可能中止自己的命令。有线电视团体表示，一旦 FCC 的命令在《联邦公报》上发布，他们打算在美国上诉法院起诉该委员会。诉讼提起后，他们可以请求法院发布初步禁令，在诉讼结果出炉前维持电视所有权上限。
FCC says it can change or eliminate rule
FCC 声称其有权修改或废除规则
The FCC order published last week said that although Congress chose the 39 percent limit, the law set the limit by “directing the Commission to modify its rules rather than by enacting a fixed cap into law.” The FCC argues it “has the authority and obligation to reexamine the national cap rule in response to changing circumstances and to modify or repeal it if it no longer serves the public interest.” 上周发布的 FCC 命令称，尽管国会选择了 39% 的限制，但该法律是通过“指示委员会修改其规则，而不是通过立法确立固定上限”来设定限制的。FCC 辩称，它“有权也有义务根据不断变化的情况重新审查全国上限规则，如果该规则不再符合公共利益，则有权对其进行修改或废除。”
While the 2004 law states the FCC cannot repeal or modify the cap during its quadrennial reviews of media rules, the FCC argues it can eliminate the cap if it does so outside the quadrennial review process. The law “simply separates the Commission’s decisions to review the national cap from the statutorily mandated review of other media ownership rules that are to occur every four years,” the FCC said. 虽然 2004 年的法律规定 FCC 在每四年一次的媒体规则审查期间不得废除或修改该上限，但 FCC 辩称，如果是在四年一度的审查程序之外进行，它就可以取消该上限。FCC 表示，该法律“只是将委员会审查全国上限的决定，与法定每四年进行一次的其他媒体所有权规则审查分离开来”。
FCC may face multiple lawsuits
FCC 可能面临多项诉讼
Cable lobby groups aren’t the only ones likely to sue the FCC. After the August FCC vote, media advocacy group Free Press said it plans to join with allies “to appeal this unlawful decision in court.” 有线电视游说团体并不是唯一可能起诉 FCC 的组织。在 8 月份 FCC 投票后，媒体倡导组织“自由新闻”（Free Press）表示，计划与盟友联合，“在法庭上对这一非法决定提出上诉”。
“Changing this limit requires congressional action, but Carr doesn’t care,” Free Press General Counsel Matt Wood said at the time. “He’ll do whatever it takes to clear the way for Trump-aligned billionaires to swallow up stations wherever and whenever they please. The result would be just one or two…” “改变这一限制需要国会采取行动，但卡尔并不在乎，”自由新闻总法律顾问马特·伍德（Matt Wood）当时表示。“他会不惜一切代价为特朗普阵营的亿万富翁扫清障碍，让他们随时随地吞并电视台。结果将只会剩下这一两家……”