A protracted legal fight between Gray Television and the Federal Communications Commission has effectively come to an end, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has declined to revisit a ruling that found the broadcaster violated agency ownership rules in Anchorage, Alaska. Gray escaped a financial penalty earlier this year.
In a terse order, the Eleventh Circuit rejected Gray Television’s petitions for both a panel rehearing and a rehearing en banc. No judge requested further review of the case, effectively closing the door on Gray’s legal options within the circuit.
The decision reinforces the court’s March ruling, which upheld the FCC’s determination that Gray improperly controlled two top-rated television stations in the Anchorage market in violation of longstanding media ownership restrictions. While the court vacated a $518,283 fine imposed by the FCC, it affirmed that the agency had authority to find the company in violation of its rules.
At the center of the case is Gray’s 2020 acquisition of non-license assets belonging to Denali Media Holdings’ CBS affiliate in Anchorage. At the time, Gray already owned the market’s NBC affiliate. Rather than operate both stations independently, Gray began broadcasting CBS content on another full-power station it owned, effectively consolidating two of the market’s top four stations under one corporate roof.
That arrangement, the FCC concluded in 2021, violated its then-standing rule prohibiting common ownership of multiple top-four stations within the same Nielsen Designated Market Area. Though that rule has since been relaxed following the Supreme Court’s decision in FCC v. Prometheus Radio Project, the Commission judged Gray’s conduct under the stricter version of the rule that was in effect at the time of the transaction.
Gray has repeatedly characterized the FCC’s actions as unfair and claimed the ruling rested on a “mistaken identity” argument, insisting that it did not own the second station in question in a way that would violate Commission policy. However, the appeals court agreed with the FCC’s interpretation of control and influence over station assets, even while ruling that the Commission failed to properly justify the size of the monetary penalty.
The March ruling found the FCC had not adequately warned Gray that its conduct would be considered “egregious,” a necessary step under administrative law when levying such a fine. As a result, the court vacated the financial penalty, but it left the underlying violation intact.
