Pa.’s Democratic senators file letter supporting Fox 29 in FCC broadcast license battle

Democratic Sens. John Fetterman and Bob Casey are supporting Fox 29 amid a Federal Communications Commission review of the station’s broadcast license.

The senators’ public support for Fox 29 is among the highest-profile endorsements the station has seen since the Media and Democracy Project filed a petition seeking the denial of its broadcast license in July. A self-described nonpartisan nonprofit, the group asked the FCC to deny Fox 29′s license renewal because it rebroadcast “knowingly false narratives about the 2020 election” initially shown on Fox’s cable station.

Fetterman and Casey filed a joint letter with the FCC last week, writing that many Philadelphia-area residents view Fox 29 as a “reliable local media outlet that helps residents stay connected to their community and current events.” The pair also encouraged the FCC to administer the renewal review process fairly and swiftly.

“WTXF-TV has provided a platform that uplifts Philadelphia’s diverse voices and supports local journalism, and we hope that its delivery of local news and local programming to the community is not disrupted,” Fetterman and Casey wrote.

Fetterman and Casey’s letter is the latest from Pennsylvania politicians siding with the station. Earlier this month, State Sen. Anthony H. Williams filed his own letter encouraging the FCC to “reject politically motivated efforts to deny Fox 29 WTXF’s broadcast license,” and renew the station’s license to “allow them to continue their valuable work.”

Here is what you need to know about the case:

The petition asked the FCC to deny the renewal of Fox 29′s broadcast license because Fox Corp., its parent company, broadcast “knowingly false narratives about the 2020 election” on Fox News Channel. A “good deal” of those narratives, the petition says, were shown on Fox 29.

The petition does not implicate Fox 29′s original reporting, but argues that rebroadcasting content shown on the cable station makes it an “over-the-air extension of Fox News Channel.” The petition argues that Fox’s handling of the 2020 election violated the FCC’s policy on licensee character qualifications, which makes it unfit to maintain a broadcast license.

Fox Television Stations, a subsidiary of Fox Corp., said last year that the petition was “completely without merit,” and sought to have it dismissed.

In response to Fetterman and Casey’s letter, Preston Padden, a former Fox executive and petition backer, said in a statement that evidence from the Dominion Voting Systems case against Fox, which resulted in the network paying a $787.5 million settlement, shows that Fox “presented false news to protect their profits.”

“Just like Fox did not want to [upset] their MAGA viewers by reporting the truth...politicians — even those of the highest integrity like Senators Casey and Fetterman — don’t want to [upset] a TV station that will cover their election,” Padden said.

In August, the FCC announced the rare step of allowing public comment on the petition. The move made the process behind the license renewal more transparent and open to the public.

To date, the case has received 138 comments and 16 letters, according to its FCC docket.

“The record is replete with comments from Philadelphia residents, organizations, and elected officials from a range of backgrounds attesting to the station’s commitment to upholding the core values of local broadcasting and to serving Philadelphia’s residents,” Fetterman and Casey wrote. “We hope that you take these comments as a testament to the importance this station has in this community.”

Early in the public-comment process, Fox Television Stations also provided a number of letters of support for Fox 29′s license renewal, including from local leaders such as U.S. Reps. Brendan F. Boyle (D., Pa.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.) and Camden Mayor Victor G. Carstarphen.

Not all comments, however, have been positive. Former FCC chairman Alfred Sikes, who fronted the agency from 1989 to 1993 when former Fox chair Rupert Murdoch was building the network, wrote that Fox is “in the promotion business.” The petition has also received support from former Fox News contributor William Kristol, former FCC commissioner Ervin Duggan, and Fox Broadcasting Co. founding president Jamie Kellner.

There is no timeline for when the FCC has to make a decision, and Fox 29 still has an active broadcast license.

In a statement, the Media and Democracy Project said that it expects the next milestone in the case to be the FCC’s decision on a motion it filed on October seeking to compel Fox to provide evidence presented during various lawsuits the company has faced.

Documents from those matters, a project spokesperson said, would allow the FCC to have “access to all the necessary facts as they evaluate the specific character and conduct issues relevant to Fox 29′s renewal.”