TBN REGAINS MIAMI STATION

An April 1999 ruling by the Federal Communications Commission denying the Trinity Broadcasting Network has been overturned by a federal court. A decision by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for District of Columbia Circuit will allow TBN to regain the license to operate its Miami television.

In 1995, the FCC refused to renew TBN’s license for the Florida station, stating “that TBN attempted to circumvent federal limits on TV station ownership by creating a sham minority-controlled company to hold the license.” According to an Orange County Register report, the FCC contended that “Phil Aguilar, then pastor of Set Free Christian Fellowship in Anaheim was a mere figurehead serving TBN on the NMTV [National Minority Television] board.”

On May 5, a three-judge panel ruled that “Although we defer to the Commission’s interpretation of its regulation as requiring actual minority control, we find that neither the regulation nor the Commission’s related statements gave fair notice of that requirement. We therefore vacate the Commission’s denial of appellants’ license renewal application.” The court also admonished the FCC, saying it was stricter in its judgments of TBN than with other licensees.

TBN founder and president Paul Crouch said in a statement: “For nearly a decade this proceeding has hung like a dark cloud over Trinity, and I thank the Lord that this ordeal has ended with this exoneration. At no time did Trinity or NMTV ever attempt to violate the Commission’s rules, and it’s good to have the court confirm that.” Crouch also is a director of NMTV.

—MKG

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