Here are some of the regulatory developments of significance to broadcasters from the past week, with links to where you can go to find more information as to how these actions may affect your operations.
- FCC Chairman Carr published a tweet saying that there had been a “significant surge in entirely Fake Polls and Suppression Polls” designed to interfere with the election process. His tweet said that airing information from those polls would be inconsistent with broadcasters’ public interest obligations and a possible violation of the FCC’s news distortion policy or the broadcast hoax rules.
- FCC Commissioner Gomez, in response to this tweet, announced that she had sent the National Association of Broadcasters a letter. Her announcement says that “this Administration is running a coordinated, government-wide effort to reshape the media into its sanctioned messenger,” and that the FCC “has become one of its most active instruments.” Gomez also said that “reporting the results of a poll this Administration happens to dislike does not come close to meeting” the FCC’s news distortion or broadcast hoax standards. The letter goes on to recite a litany of other Commission actions that she claims are designed to intimidate broadcasters and suggests that the NAB turn up the volume on their protests about these actions.
- The FCC announced that comments and reply comments are due November 18 and December 3, respectively, in response to the FCC’s Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking adopted last month concerning reforms to the FCC’s National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) framework for determining if constructing communications facilities, including broadcast towers, affect historical sites. This review will also look at FCC obligations under the Endangered Species Act. As we noted here, in an accompanying Report and Order, the FCC significantly relaxed its National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) framework for determining if constructing communications facilities affects the environment. In the FNPRM, the FCC seeks comment on whether its historical review procedures and those under the Endangered Species Act should be applied to fewer FCC actions, including whether the FCC’s licensing procedures should even trigger review and whether the FCC should change its review procedures in a manner similar to the way it changed NEPA review.
- The FCC’s Space Bureau released a Public Notice containing an updated list of earth stations operating in the Upper C-Band (4.0-4.2 GHz), which should receive a degree of interference protection from new C-Band users. The list of incumbent C-Band earth stations, including those used by broadcasters, can be found here. The Bureau reminds these “incumbent” C-Band users to update their registrations if changes are made and to notify the FCC if these earth stations are no longer actively used. The list of registered incumbent earth stations will be used in determining eligibility for reimbursement of transition costs in the upcoming Upper C-band transition (see our note here).
- The Enforcement Bureau issued two Notices of Violation after Bureau investigations revealed that broadcast stations were not complying with the FCC’s rules. In each case, the stations involved must explain to the Bureau how they will correct the rule violations and prevent future violations from occurring and, after receiving the response, the Bureau will consider what further actions are necessary. The specific concerns identified by the FCC are listed below.
- The Bureau found that a group of Montana radio stations failed to monitor the stations they were assigned to monitor in the Montana Emergency Alert Service (EAS) Plan and those stations failed to maintain proper records of their EAS tests in their Station Logs which the station’s Chief Operator is required to maintain.
- The Bureau found that a Tennessee international broadcast station was not operating in accordance with its seasonal operating schedule and was otherwise not operating in compliance with the FCC’s technical rules for international broadcast stations.
- The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau issued three Forfeiture Orders—each imposing $20,000 fines—against individuals in Brooklyn, New York, Spring Valley, New York, and Hyannis, Massachusetts for operating pirate radio stations. The pirate broadcasters now have 30 days to pay their fines or the FCC may refer their cases to the U.S. Department of Justice. The FCC itself cannot sue to collect fines or take actions against individuals who ignore these fines. It must rely on the DOJ to enforce them in Court.
- The FCC’s Media Bureau released a Report and Order substituting VHF Channel 10 at Elko, Nevada for UHF Channel 20. The Bureau found that the channel substitution was in the public interest because the TV station that requested the change to Channel 20 could not complete construction of its Channel 20 facilities, so returning the TV Table of Allotments to reflect that the station would remain on its current Channel 10 would prevent interruption of service to its viewers. Under FCC policies, when the FCC changes the TV Table of Allotments to accommodate a station’s proposed channel change, the Table is changed even before the station builds its new facilities, thus requiring a proceeding like this one to undo the Table of Allotments change when the new facilities are not built.
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