The US Federal Communications Commission has voted 2-1 to scrap the long-standing rule capping how many American households a single broadcaster can reach through local TV station ownership, a change that primarily benefits large station groups such as Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group. The move replaces the fixed 39 per cent audience-reach limit with a case-by-case approval process for future ownership deals, effectively clearing the way for further consolidation in local broadcasting. Critics argue the decision oversteps the FCC's legal authority, since it alters a rule set out in a 2004 appropriations law that the agency itself is barred from amending.

Both Nexstar and Sinclair currently reach around 39 per cent of US TV households each, meaning they stood right at the old cap and are now free to expand further. Sinclair, which has already secured an FCC waiver to merge with rival broadcaster Tegna in a deal that could create a 260-station group covering 80 per cent of the country, welcomed the change, with its chief executive calling it legally sound. FCC chair Brendan Carr framed the repeal as protecting local stations from national programmers, while the sole dissenting commissioner, Anna Gomez, said it would hand more control to large national companies rather than genuine local broadcasters. Former congressman Tom DeLay, who helped negotiate the original cap, has argued the FCC cannot unilaterally rewrite a law passed by Congress, and legal challenges are widely expected, alongside the ongoing antitrust case against the Sinclair-Tegna merger.