As Republican FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty sees it, her decision to vote to repeal the 39% national TV audience reach limit for broadcast television station licensees “recognizes that the media marketplace has changed dramatically, while many of our rules have not.”
Case in point: When the national broadcast television ownership rule was last meaningfully updated, Netflix had not yet begun its streaming service, YouTube did not exist, and “appointment television” was still the norm, she said in a statement explaining why she sided with Chairman Carr in a 2-1 vote.
That said, the decision isn’t the “silver bullet” to reverse audience or marketplace trends entirely some may have desired.
