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Fcc Modernizes Broadcaster Application Public Notice Rules

Leo Migdal
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fcc modernizes broadcaster application public notice rules

Prior to the May open meeting, the Federal Communications Commission has adopted the broadcast public notice Report and Order (MB Dockets 17-265, 17-105, 05-6). In the Order, the FCC made some monumental changes on how broadcasters comply with Section 311(a) of the Communications Act which requires all broadcast applicants to make a public notice of their application. This law was passed by Congress in the early 60s as part of a suite of legislation regarding broadcaster transparency in the wake of radio’s “payola” and television’s rigged quiz show scandals. The primary element of this proceeding was the elimination of the requirement that broadcast applicants purchase advertising in the newspaper of the greatest circulation for the community that was involved in the application. This is in reaction to the overall nature of the role of newspapers in modern American culture. All commercial applicants, as well as noncommercial applicants (including LPFM) without a working station (such as new entrants and licensees with silent stations) will now be required to place their public notices on a...

FM translators and boosters, regardless of their commercial status will also do online public notices. This website can be their station website, the applicant’s organization website or the parent corporation of the applicant’s website. Links must be on the home page for the website and must be in a conspicuous location, just like the required links full-service stations must have to their online public file and contest rules. Public notices on a website must run for 30 consecutive days and the display of the notice must begin within 5 days from the date of publication in the FCC’s Broadcast Applications or Applications... Prior to this Report and Order, there was never a regulation that required LPFM stations to follow the statutory requirements of §311(a). This was an apparent oversight that lasted for 20 years.

When the FCC created the LPFM service in 2000, several regulations that applied to full-service stations were not made applicable to LPFM stations. In April, the FCC mended a 20-year oversight on the filing of silent notifications and silent special temporary authority authorizations. In May, 2019, the Audio Division determined that LPFM stations were required by statute to make public notice announcements for license renewals. This Order is the final patch on those oversights under FCC Chairman William Kennard. Noncommercial applicants (including LPFM) that have a station on the air will make their public notice announcements over the air. Stations will be required to carry 6 announcements in a 4-week period with no more than 2 announcements per week.

Announcements must be broadcast anytime between the hours of 7 AM and 11 PM, Monday through Friday. Announcements must commence within 5 days from the date of publication in the FCC’s Broadcast Applications or Applications public notice that the application has been accepted for filing. On May 13, 2020, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC or Commission) issued an order adopting significant changes to its requirements governing the way that broadcasters must provide the public with notice of a variety... Most significantly, the FCC eliminated the requirement that broadcasters provide public notice of covered applications in a newspaper, substituting an online written public notice requirement in place of the decades-old newspaper publication mandate. The FCC also streamlined the content of on-air public notice announcements. Although the rule changes adopted in the Order will not go into effect until after a notice of their effectiveness is published in the Federal Register, the FCC also waived the requirement that broadcast...

Additional details concerning the FCC’s Order are provided below. Elimination of Newspaper Publication Requirement The Order eliminates the requirement, adopted more than 50 years ago, that broadcasters provide public notice of covered applications in newspapers. In taking this action to modernize its rules, the FCC recognizes that the newspaper publication requirement was costly to applicants and consumers, and less helpful to the public than an online public notice requirement... Changes aim to streamline filings and eliminate outdated procedures The FCC is continuing its housekeeping efforts with proposed updates to certain radio and TV rules.

The commission published its Notice for Proposed Rulemaking in the Federal Register on Monday. As a result, comments may be filed through April 23, with reply comments due by May 8. As Radio World reported in December, the commission said these efforts are intended to “better reflect current application processing requirements, codify existing practices and remove references to outdated procedures and legacy filing systems.” The move signals that Chairman Brendan Carr is advancing this set of proposals, which were initially introduced under former Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. In December, all five FCC commissioners voted to open the NPRM. Due to aggressive automated scraping of FederalRegister.gov and eCFR.gov, programmatic access to these sites is limited to access to our extensive developer APIs.

If you are human user receiving this message, we can add your IP address to a set of IPs that can access FederalRegister.gov & eCFR.gov; complete the CAPTCHA (bot test) below and click "Request... This process will be necessary for each IP address you wish to access the site from, requests are valid for approximately one quarter (three months) after which the process may need to be repeated. An official website of the United States government. If you want to request a wider IP range, first request access for your current IP, and then use the "Site Feedback" button found in the lower left-hand side to make the request. Due to aggressive automated scraping of FederalRegister.gov and eCFR.gov, programmatic access to these sites is limited to access to our extensive developer APIs. If you are human user receiving this message, we can add your IP address to a set of IPs that can access FederalRegister.gov & eCFR.gov; complete the CAPTCHA (bot test) below and click "Request...

This process will be necessary for each IP address you wish to access the site from, requests are valid for approximately one quarter (three months) after which the process may need to be repeated. An official website of the United States government. If you want to request a wider IP range, first request access for your current IP, and then use the "Site Feedback" button found in the lower left-hand side to make the request. (a) Definitions. The following definitions shall apply to this section: (1) Acceptance public notice.

A Commission public notice announcing that an application has been accepted for filing. (i) Any of the following internet websites, to the extent they are maintained, in order of priority: (A) The applicant station's internet website; (B) The applicant's internet website; or

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