FCC Pauses Broadcast-Ownership Data Collection, Signals Upcoming Deletion
The Media Bureau has waived the requirement that broadcasters file biennial ownership reports for 18 months, in apparent anticipation of that requirement being eliminated, said a public notice Wednesday. Multiple commenters in the FCC’s "Delete" proceeding “urged the Commission to revisit the current biennial ownership filing requirement, which they maintain is a costly and burdensome requirement without a sufficient offsetting public benefit,” the notice said. “With the next filing window approaching, we find there is good cause to waive the biennial ownership report filing requirement.”
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Broadcast attorneys told us the waiver is a sign that the agency is working toward eliminating a host of broadcast rules. Along with the ownership reports, NAB and individual broadcasters asked the FCC to do away with kidvid rules, public file requirements, equal employment opportunity rules, issues/programs lists, and numerous other long-standing FCC rules. Demographic data from the biennial reports has often been cited by groups pushing for more broadcast-ownership diversity (see 2109070051). The last report issued by the FCC based on that data, in 2023, showed that racial minorities held a majority interest in 4% of commercial broadcast stations. Female ownership was listed at 9%."This is an anticompetitive invitation to abuse the FCC's ownership rules," said Benton Institute for Broadband & Society Senior Counselor Andrew Schwartzman. "The obligation to file this form deters broadcasters from trying to evade the requirement that they maintain some semblance of ownership diversity."
Reports would have been due Dec. 1 but are now pushed back to June 1, 2027, “or until further notice, whichever comes first,” the notice said.