NBC News: Media Mega-Mergers Under Threat with Democrats Controlling the House

With the Democrats taking control of the House when the new session starts Jan. 3, lawmakers and media players are re-adjusting their strategies and preparing for a slew of new hearings and investigations.

Democrats have already started to circle their wagons around Nexstar’s proposed purchase of Tribune Media, with Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust subcommittee, saying in a statement on Monday that the merger “would undoubtedly lead to mass layoffs in newsrooms at a time when our free and diverse press is already under assault.”

Last week, a group of 14 organizations wrote to representatives poised to head two very influential House committees asking them to hold hearings into the proposed merger of T-Mobile and SoftBank-backed Sprint, a combination that has been scuttled on the Hill before. …

Over the past two years, the FCC has loosened media regulations — throwing out restrictions on station group audience caps, allowing ownership of multiple TV stations in big cities and, controversially, tossing out net neutrality rules.

In the next few weeks, the government regulator will begin a wholesale review of media law, something it does every four years — but this time there’s likely to be a lot more opposition than normal.

“I think the background definitely changes with a flip of the House. There is going to be more oversight, probably some attempts to draw up legislation,” said former FCC commissioner Michael Copps, now an adviser to watchdog group Common Cause.