Broadcasters, MVPDs and network programmers want the FCC to shelve plans that require disclosures about the use of AI in political ads because they’re unworkably burdensome, exceed agency authority and won’t affect digital platforms, said reply filings in docket 24-211.
With Hurricane Milton recovery efforts continuing, the FCC extended the Lifeline program to storm victims, telecom companies expanded efforts to restore service, and NAB pointed to AM radio as an antidote to online misinformation about relief efforts.
NEW YORK -- 2025 isn't a “cliff” for the broadcast TV industry despite falling retransmission consent revenue, ad sales declines and growing streaming competition, said executives at the NAB Show New York Wednesday. “We're not at the cliff,” said Nexstar President-Broadcast Andy Alford. “I think 2025 is going to have its challenges,” but “there is lots of opportunity for 2025 to be a good year." Said CBS News and Stations President Jennifer Mitchell during a TV NewsCheck-hosted panel, “Despite year-over-year declines heading into 2025 there is a lot of optimism.”
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel visited Asheville, North Carolina, on Friday and met communications providers and emergency response officials in the wake of Hurricane Helene. Relief efforts at the FCC and communications companies continue, even as Florida is preparing for a second storm. “I saw firsthand how the public sector and private sector are working together to help with recovery,” said Rosenworcel in a news release Monday. “We must use [Hurricane Helene] to understand ways we can make this infrastructure more resilient and more accessible in the future.”
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr and former Federal Election Commission Chairman Bradley Smith disagreed with Public Knowledge CEO Chris Lewis Monday about the FCC’s authority to require disclosures on political ads created with generative AI. During a Federalist Society virtual discussion, Carr and Smith said the FCC was stepping onto the FEC’s turf and going beyond the intent of statutes giving the agency regulatory power on political ads. However, Lewis said the FCC effort would be complementary to FEC rules. “If we don't have these rules, it is critically important that those who are critical of them come up with solutions to solve this threat,” Lewis said.
The FCC expanded the reporting area for communications outages caused by Hurricane Helene to include counties in Tennessee and Virginia and additional counties in South Carolina, said a public notice in Monday’s Daily Digest. Reports from the affected counties show communications services experiencing outages from the storm but improving.
The FCC released its order approving 3-2 radio broadcaster Audacy’s request for a temporary waiver of its foreign-ownership requirements. The dissents from both FCC Republicans condemn the order as a deviation from normal FCC procedure, but neither mentions by name the involvement of the Soros family in the deal, though that has been the main focus of Republican lawmakers and conservative media critical of the restructuring. Commissioner Brendan Carr previously called the waiver a “Soros shortcut.” To suggest that Audacy is receiving special treatment is “cynical and wrong,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, pointing to numerous similar grants from the FCC going back to 2018. “Our practice here and in these prior cases is designed to facilitate the prompt and orderly emergence from bankruptcy of a company that is a licensee under the Communications Act.”
FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel acknowledged Friday that the agency’s definition of AI may need fine-tuning and rejected the idea of a dedicated AI regulatory agency. Speaking at the 7th Annual Berkeley Law AI Institute, she also discussed the end of Chevron deference.
An order approving Audacy’s request for a temporary exemption from the foreign-ownership rules was adopted but isn’t expected to be released before next week, FCC officials told us. The waiver would allow Audacy to complete foreign-ownership review after it finishes a bankruptcy restructuring that involves control of the broadcaster passing to a fund affiliated with George Soros' family. FCC Republicans hadn’t submitted dissenting statements Wednesday afternoon but indicated they plan to do so, the agency officials said. Broadcast industry officials, attorneys and others told us the Audacy transaction wouldn’t attract as much attention without Soros’ name attached, and that radio broadcasters have long sought increased private equity investment in their industry. “They’re making it a political ax,” said Christopher Terry, University of Minnesota media law professor. “The radio industry has been cash-strapped for 20 years.”
Legislators, broadcasters, cable groups, the Heritage Foundation and civil rights groups disagree on whether the FCC can or should require disclosures for political ads created with generative AI, according to comments filed in docket 24-211 by Thursday’s deadline.