Ellis v. Tribune Television Co‪.‬

Congress has delegated exclusive authority over broadcasting licensure matters to the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC" or "Commission"). That authority includes wide discretion in granting, revoking, conditioning, and extending licenses in furtherance of the public interest. This case arises in part because of the FCCs inordinate delay in exercising that authority. Tribune Television Company ("Tribune") currently owns a daily newspaper and two television stations in the Hartford, Connecticut area. Without an FCC waiver, Tribune is in violation of the FCCs newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rule. Tribune previously received several temporary waivers and had applied for a permanent waiver, but, after the last temporary waiver had expired and while Tribunes application for the permanent waiver was pending, plaintiff Neil Ellis ("Ellis"), a Hartford-area resident, brought suit under 47 U.S.C. § 401(b). Ellis contends that, although the FCC granted Tribune a temporary waiver, the FCC nonetheless mandated Tribunes eventual compliance with the cross-ownership rule.