Fcc Moves Forward With Broadcast Rule Revisions

Changes aim to streamline filings and eliminate outdated procedures The FCC is continuing its housekeeping efforts with proposed updates to certain radio and TV rules.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to “better reflect current application processing requirements, codify existing practices and remove references to outdated procedures and legacy filing systems.”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.

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Public broadcasters won’t have to adopt ATSC 3.0 anytime soon if they don’t want to. That’s the biggest takeaway from the FCC’s notice of proposed rulemaking for ATSC 3.0, also known as Next Gen TV. While the commission wants to strip away some regulations that could hinder support for the new broadcast standard, for now it’s stopped short of setting cutoff dates for the existing ATSC 1.0 standard or... The FCC will likely vote on its proposed rules next year. The lack of an ATSC 3.0 mandate should come as a relief for public broadcasters that aren’t prepared to upgrade, but some broadcasters believe that the new standard won’t go anywhere without a clearer... “If you don’t mandate it, it’s probably not going to happen,” Franz Joachim, CEO at New Mexico PBS and former chair of America’s Public Television Stations, said in an interview.

ATSC 3.0 uses an IP-based architecture to broadcast information over the public airwaves, similar to how data flows over the internet. It also makes broadcasts more efficient by using newer compression formats such as High Efficiency Video Coding. The broadcast television industry knows it needs to consolidate. It's just struggling with how to do it. In August, Nexstar Media Group, the largest owner of broadcast stations in the U.S., announced a proposed $6.2 billion deal to buy Tegna — a combination that would bring together more than 260 stations... Last week, Sinclair, the owner of 179 local TV affiliates, made a hostile offer to acquire its smaller peer E.W.

Scripps after buying up nearly 10% of the company on the open market. Both potential deals remain in limbo, and executives are getting antsy. Companies like Sinclair and Nexstar run the affiliate stations of the major networks across the U.S. known for local news, sports and other broadcast content. They face the same headwinds as their cable and content studio counterparts — the shrinking number of pay-TV customers due to the rise of streaming and tech options. The media ownership ball is in the hands of Brendan Carr as the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has bounced back the issue to the Federal Communications Commission in the latest volley between the...

It is a back and forth than began in 2003 under former FCC Chair Michael Powell, who like each of his successors during the past two decades has seen updates laid out in months... In 2025, however, things may be different. Carr has been critical of what he has seen as FCC fiddling around the edges, while the old media landscape went up in flames. Carr has made it clear that he believes radio ownership rules need to be abolished, or sharply curtailed, having described it as a “break glass moment” for broadcasters. Now that he is leading the agency, he has said the FCC needs to “move very quickly” to ensure that broadcasters have the resources to compete. “For decades, the FCC’s approach to regulating the broadcast industry has failed to promote the public interest.

That has only made it harder for trusted and local sources of news and information to compete in today’s media environment,” Carr said Wednesday. While the Eighth Circuit backed up the FCC’s decisions to maintain all of the local radio ownership rules, it did strike down a portion of the rules governing television ownership limits. Carr noted that it is one of the reasons he voted against the FCC’s December 2023 decision that mostly maintained the status quo. He said the decision did “not match marketplace realities” faced by broadcasters. Those realities are what Carr has said he will lean into as the pending 2022 quadrennial ownership now moves forward. The Commission has already begun its work, announcing last month that it will “refresh the record” and collect public comments on a proposal to change the National Television Multiple Ownership Rule.

It limits a broadcaster from reaching more than 39% of the of the television audience households in the U.S. As expected, the FCC advanced several items impacting broadcasters at its August Open Meeting, including reform of the Emergency Alert System, modernization of the Disaster Information Reporting System, and the elimination of nearly 100... The proceedings are part of the broader “Build America” agenda presented by FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who described these changes as essential to “clearing the way for new infrastructure builds” while keeping emergency communications... The Commission formally adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to reexamine both EAS and Wireless Emergency Alerts, with a focus on improving resilience, clarity, and accessibility. Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau Chief Zenji Nakazawa introduced the item, which asks whether EAS and WEA systems are meeting the expectations of both the public and alert originators, and whether a redesign... Commissioner Anna Gomez emphasized the need to modernize these systems in response to recent scenarios, like tsunami threats in Hawaii and Alaska, particularly language requirements.

“As we look ahead at how to improve our alerting capabilities, I urge others to continue to hold this FCC accountable to its promise to ensure more people are reached in an emergency, regardless... Commissioner Olivia Trusty added that lessons from recent flooding events in Texas, Kentucky, and North Carolina demonstrate the urgency of delivering timely, targeted alerts. The Federal Communications Commission voted at its August 7 open meeting to eliminate 98 broadcast rules and requirements identified as “obsolete, outdated or unnecessary,” continuing an aggressive deregulation effort that has removed hundreds of... The action removes broadcast service regulations spanning nearly five decades, including 1970s-era requirements for specific radio station testing equipment and procedures for defunct technologies like analog television services and obsolete TV subscription systems. “We take aim today at the broadcast service rules portion of our regulations and remove those provisions that are outdated or otherwise no longer serving the public interest,” Chairman Brendan Carr said during the... “Specifically, today’s action will remove 71 rule provisions, including 98 rules and requirements, 12 pages, and over 5,000 words from the FCC’s rule books.”

The Commission used a direct final rule procedure that allows regulation removal without traditional notice-and-comment rulemaking, provided no significant adverse comments are received during a public comment period. This streamlined approach enabled rapid elimination of rules but has drawn procedural concerns from Commissioner Anna Gomez. “The procedures implemented last month and used again today to erase rules adopted pursuant to notice and comment were put in place without seeking public comment on appropriate processes and guardrails,” Gomez wrote in... “I cannot support the elimination of substantive rules pursuant to these procedures.”

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