Federal Communications Commission FCC 17-169
STATEMENT OF
CHAIRMAN AJIT PAI
Re: Amendment of Section 73.3555(e) of the Commission’s Rules, National Television Multiple 
Ownership Rule, MB Docket No. 17-318.
The national television ownership cap and the UHF discount are inextricably linked.  Any review 
of one must include a review of the other.  What is the FCC’s authority to adjust this cap, and (assuming 
we have such authority), how should we adjust it?  Should we eliminate the UHF discount?  Those are 
the key questions we’re asking in this Notice.  There are no tentative conclusions whatsoever.  We’re 
just asking.   
It’s amusing then (to use an unduly charitable construction) to hear such vociferous objections 
from this bench to simply asking the question whether we have authority, given that the same 
commissioners previously answered it—in the affirmative.  In 2013, the FCC adopted the UHF Discount 
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which stated, “we believe the Commission retains the authority to 
modify both the national audience reach restriction and the UHF discount, provided such action is 
undertaken in a rulemaking proceeding separate from the Commission’s quadrennial review of the 
broadcast ownership rules pursuant to Section 202(h).”
1
  Today’s minority expressed nary a doubt about 
that belief back then.  And just last year, the FCC converted that belief into bedrock.  It definitively 
“conclude[d] that [it] has the authority to modify the national audience reach cap, including the 
authority to revise or eliminate the UHF discount.”
2
  And it went even further, stating that the 
Communications Act does “not impose a statutory national audience reach cap or prohibit the 
Commission from evaluating the elements of this rule.”
3
  Yet again, the current minority voted 
wholeheartedly for that proposition.
I understand the literary appeal of Oscar Wilde’s dictum that “consistency is the last refuge of 
the unimaginative.”  But our work typically demands a modicum of consistency—boring though it may 
be. 
It’s also amusing that those who have repeatedly voiced their strong opposition to the UHF 
discount in recent months are now voting against seeking comment on eliminating it.  Make no mistake:  
A vote against this Notice is effectively a vote in favor of keeping the UHF discount in place.  
Getting back to the substance of this Notice, we need to take a holistic look at the national cap 
rule, including the UHF discount.  The marketplace has changed considerably due to the explosion of 
video programming options and various technological advances that have occurred since the cap was 
1
 Amendment of Section 73.3555(e) of the Commission’s Rules, National Television Multiple Ownership Rule, 
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 28 FCC Rcd 14324, 14330 (2013). 
2
 Amendment of Section 73.3555(e) of the Commission’s Rules, National Television Multiple Ownership Rule, 
Report and Order, 31 FCC Rcd 10213, 10222 (2016).
3
 Id.
Federal Communications Commission "FCC  XX-XXX" 
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last considered in 2004.  So we need to examine whether our rules should change accordingly.  That’s an 
important discussion that will be informed by the facts in the record—not anything else.
I’d like to thank the dedicated staff who worked on this Notice: Ty Bream, Michelle Carey, 
Brendan Holland, Mary Beth Murphy, and Julie Saulnier from the Media Bureau; and Dave Konczal, Bill 
Richardson, and Royce Sherlock from the Office of General Counsel.