In an 18-page decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has denied a petition of review from a Connecticut-based low power television station licensee that challenged the FCC’s implementation of the Low Power Protection Act.
The challenge came from Radio Communications Corporation, which sought eligibility for W24EZ-D in West Haven, Conn. to become a Class A TV licensee under the act, which limits eligibility to stations operating in a Designated Market Area with no more than 95,000 television households, as determined by either Nielsen Media Research. Alternatively, eligibility may be determined by using a system the FCC deems equivalent to that of Nielson.
With the LPFA’s passage, the Commission in 2023 issued an Order in 2023 recognizing the 95,000 household limit and adopting the Nielsen Local TV Report to determine a station’s DMA.
In late January 2024, an effort by RCC to stop the implementation of the LPPA began. Timothy Welch, of Hill & Welch in Silver Spring, Md., represented RCC. The LPTV station owner’s goal was to convince the D.C. Federal Appeals Court to stay, and reverse, the FCC’s unanimous decision to sign the “Low Power Protection Act” into law. At issue: W24EZ-D’s desire to convert a LPTV station to Class A status.
Three actions were sought by RCC. Each were denied by the court. At the time, Wilkinson Barker Knauer Partner Davina Sashkin explained to LPTVBA members that the first denial saw the D.C. Circuit determine there was a lack of evidence that RCC should win outright. Then, the court said no to a stay of the FCC’s implementation of the LPPA during the pendency of the case — a key desire of RCC and its attorney. Lastly, a request for expedited review was denied.
RCC kept up the fight, after the D.C. Circuit Court denied a stay of the LPPA. Now, RCC’s battle appears to have ended.
Why did RCC fight, given it operates within the Hartford-New Haven DMA? RCC wanted an alternative interpretation of the qualification criteria, arguing that the LPPA offers eligibility to low-power TV stations that operate in a DMA of any size that have a “community of license” of less than 95,000 TV households.
That argument didn’t hold with the court, and went so far as to use the landmark Loper Bright Supreme Court decision to exercise its own understanding and judgment of the matter. In doing so it found the FCC’s view to be the most accurate when it comes to the LPPA.
