A fan of the Standard General-Tegna deal is charging the Federal Communications Commission with dragging its feet on reviewing a merger that would result in a record TV station purchase by a minority-led company.

Frank Washington, founder and CEO of diverse programming supplier Crossings TV, took to the electronic pages of DC Journal to say  the proposed merger between theStanard General and Tegna broadcast groups would help change the mostly white face of the content delivery landscape, citing Elon Musk, Rupert Murdoch, and Mark Zuckerberg as examples.

The op-ed has been summitted to the FCC docket of comments on the proposed deal.

Washington pointed out that Standard General is headed by Soo Kim, a Korean American, so the merger would be the largest-ever TV station purchase by a minority.

Also: Nancy Pelosi, Frank Pallone Have Issues with Standard General-Tegna Merger

Despite that, he said, the FCC is delaying the deal by extending the document review process, and in a way he called “unprecedented,” saying the extended comment and document period is based on “disproven and irrelevant claims.”

Washington painted the problem in black and white: “There have been similar media purchasing deals, but they have not received similar treatment. Is it any wonder so many people question why a minority purchaser often seems to be treated differently than a White counterpart?”

Standard General has pointed out in defending the deal that transactions involving Gray Television’s acquisition of Meredith — which, unlike the Tegna transaction, involved a station divestiture to comply with FCC local-ownership rules — and E.W. Scripps’s acquisition of Ion Media, were vetted and approved in much less time than the nine months the FCC spent vetting its Tegna deal. ■

Veteran diverse programmer and former Democratic FCC official Frank Washington has asked the FCC to approve the purchase of Tegna by Standard General, with an assist from minority-owned Apollo Global Management in the form of financing and the acquisition of some spin-off stations from the meld.

That is according to a document filed with the FCC.

Washington is CEO of Crossings TV (Tower of Babel, LLC), which offers diverse foreign-language programming targeted to Asian-American audiences. Standard General is run by Soo Kim, who is Asian American.

Also: Soo Kim on The Imperative to Reinvigorate Local TV News and Civic Engagement

Washington also helped create the minority tax certificate program while an official with the Carter White House, he pointed out in his comments, and was a legal assistant to FCC chairman Charlie Ferris and one-time deputy chief of the FCC's then Broadcast and Cable Bureau (now Media Bureau).

Point being he has plenty of experience with agency practices and programs affecting diversity, he said.

Before it was eliminated in 1995 over concerns about abuse, the tax certificate program provided tax breaks to media companies that sold broadcast properties to eligible minorities.

Also: Standard General's Soo Kim Does Not Understand Tegna Deal Opposition

Washington pointed to the special difficulties facing minorities seeking to own large media companies, which was the impetus behind the minority tax certificate program that many have supported reinstating, including the National Association of Broadcasters and some legislators.

Given that difficulty, Washington said the FCC should recognize the importance of promoting Asian-American-owned programming outlets and grant the deal. 

The FCC has sought comment on just how it should conduct the public interest review of the merger. The FCC is required to look beyond antitrust and competition issues--which Justice focuses on in its review--to how the deal will serve the public.

Washington suggests that the public service of reducing the paucity of minority ownership, and thus viewpoints, should be self-evident.

Opponents of the deal include The NewsGuild-CWA and the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians (NABET)-CWA and Graham Media Holdings, which filed petitions to deny the merger. 

While Standard General and Tegna have long promoted the deal's diversity a a public interest benefit, the unions counter that the deal will instead cause “significant losses to ownership diversity." ■

Accelerating their objections to the FCC's "unlock the box" set-top proposal, minority programming and ownership advocates took their message to Capitol Hill last Thursday (April 14), backing up Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-New York), who said she envisions that a "protracted struggle" over the plan "will set us back in the drive for diversity."

The Brooklyn, N.Y., legislator, a member of the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, warned that the revenue restrictions triggered by the FCC plan "could lead to the ultimate extinction" of small and medium-sized programmers, including minority and special-interest programmers.

Thursday's assault on the FCC proposal was the latest in the escalating battle against the set-top Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.  Last month Clarke, other members of Congress and diversity organizations asked the Government Accountability Office to run an impact study of the plan’s implications.

"Major disruptions that fail to consider bargaining power will impact placement, affecting advertising dollars and, in turn, the ability to remain competitive and to sustain livelihoods," Clarke told an audience of about 50 people, mostly Congressional staffers and supportive lobbyists, in a House Office Building meeting room.

"Many have stated that the FCC’s new set-top proposal will, in fact, open up the marketplace so that these diverse and independent programmers gain more visibility, especially through OTT platforms," she said, but then warned, "There is no current guarantee that Silicon Valley will do a better job at prioritizing diverse and inclusive programming based on what they have demonstrated so far."

Frank Washington, CEO of Crossings TV, a Sacramento, Calif.-based firm that packages Asian (mostly Chinese) programs on cable systems, pointed out that the FCC's NPRM never uses the term "localism," which he considers a vital ingredient in programming. 

Washington also insisted that the biggest problems in the FCC proposal are not only the "unanswered questions" but, more significantly, "the unasked questions" about the plan’s impact.

"They are talking about creating an alternative universe," said Washington, a one-time legal counsel to an FCC chairman and later deputy chief of the FCC's Broadcast Bureau. "There is no accountability in this alternative universe." 

He urged the Commission to "let the marketplace drive the progress," not impose an untested system that will affect revenue and distribution.

Although the recently-created Future of TV Coalition (topped by the NCTA, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and many other MSOs and industry vendors) was not officially part of the program, the organization’s message permeated the Capitol Hill program. 

For example, Carlos Gutierrez, general counsel for the LGBT Technology Partnership, outlined views on data privacy implications that echoed the Coalition’s.

Gutierrez cited the "troubling lack of specifics in the NPRM" and emphasized that the FCC plan would not require new STB suppliers to comply with "the same privacy provisions as cable operators."

"The NPRM doesn't have a mechanism to account for data breaches by OTT providers," Gutierrez said, underscoring the importance of that protection.

Dr. Nicol Turner-Lee, vice president of policy and chief research officer of the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC), voiced concerns that the FCC plan would morph into a federal mandate. 

"The government should not pick winners and losers," Turner-Lee said. "Government should not mandate the ways consumers get to the content they want."

She added that the FCC has not looked at diversity in a serious way, especially as part of the STB plan.

Washington, calling on his long background in media since he left the FCC, said that based on recent conversations he has had at the agency, the "FCC people are feeling the heat."