FCC Broadcast Rules Update Seen as Uncontroversial
The FCC is expected to unanimously approve a draft NPRM that would seek comment on several updates and language changes to broadcast rules, industry and agency officials told us.
The agency has said the item is a sequel to a September 2023 order that updated broadcast rules to reflect the digital transition and broadcast incentive auction. The September 2023 order was unanimously approved. The item isn’t expected to change from its draft version and had drawn no ex parte filings Tuesday in docket 24-626, according to the FCC’s Electronic Comment Filing System. The NPRM would “update several broadcast radio and TV rules to better reflect current application processing requirements, clarify ambiguity, and remove references to outdated procedures and legacy filing systems,” a fact sheet released with the draft NPRM said. Although the agency has sometimes approved similar uncontroversial items with a narrow scope ahead of the open meeting, that is not expected to be the case for this item Wednesday, an FCC official told us.
“Numerous rule sections still reference outdated terms from the Commission’s legacy paper-filing processing procedures and discontinued databases, and are therefore incompatible with current electronic filing procedures,” said the draft NPRM. The item “seeks to update and clarify these rules to better reflect current processing procedures” and “improve how the public, applicants, and licensees engage with the Commission.” That includes replacing references in the rules to the outdated consolidated database system (CDBS) with the current License Management System, updating the names of FCC forms, and fixing inconsistent language in the rules. “We propose to change references in these sections from “FM Table of Allotments” to “Table of FM Allotments” and from “TV Table of Allotments” to “Table of TV Allotments.”
The NPRM also seeks comment on somewhat more substantive changes, such as eliminating a minimum requirement on AM station power increase requests that was established to make the application process more efficient. “With the electronic filing system currently in place, we tentatively find that applications proposing an increase of less than 20% power do not present the same processing burdens and do not warrant this restrictive benchmark.” The NPRM also seeks comment on broadening the range of officers at a company eligible to sign FCC applications and extending the length of time when special temporary authority can be granted for equipment problems.