Online Public File Expansion Won't Exempt Small Stations
A draft order that would expand online public file requirements to radio, satellite and cable doesn't include an exemption for stations with fewer than five employees, several communications attorneys said. Though currently on circulation, the draft order was included in Thursday's tentative agenda for the commission's January open meeting, which suggests that Chairman Tom Wheeler believes he has the votes to approve it in its current form, several broadcast attorneys told us.
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"This modernization of the public inspection file is plain common sense,” Wheeler said in a blog post Thursday. “The evolution of the Internet and the expansion of broadband infrastructure have transformed the way society accesses information today.” In the same blog post, Wheeler said of an NPRM on improving the emergency alert system (EAS) that's also slated for the next open meeting: “The goal is to promote community preparedness and ensure that Americans are best served by the warnings and alerts they receive during emergencies.”
Under the draft order, cable and satellite carriers and radio stations in the top 50 markets would have to put their public files online as soon as the rule takes effect, while smaller stations would have two years to come into compliance. Many opposition comments filed with the FCC in response to an NPRM on the proposal (see 1503170067) came from small radio broadcasters that said requiring online public files would be an undue burden for tiny radio stations in rural areas. Several broadcast attorneys said TV stations had similar complaints during their own online public file phase-in, but that process ultimately went smoothly. “This proposal does not include new disclosure requirements and would lower long-term costs for industry,” Wheeler said.
The item was just listed as being on circulation at the end of December, and its relatively quick progression to a meeting agenda suggests Wheeler hopes to have the item in effect for the 2016 election period, attorneys and public interest officials told us. Under the two-year phase-in, that wouldn't be the case for the smaller stations.
Some smaller stations may not want to wait for the two years, one broadcast attorney told us. Since stations are required to make their public files available, their physical presence in a station can be a security risk, the attorney said, echoing a blog post last year from Commissioner Mike O'Rielly. With their public file items available online, such stations would have more control over who they let in the door, the attorney said.
Many broadcast commenters on the NPRM that spawned the draft order also argued that noncommercial radio stations should be exempt from an online public file requirement for radio, but the draft order includes them in the requirement, broadcast attorneys told us. Many larger public radio entities probably won't oppose the requirement, broadcast attorney Todd Gray of Gray Miller told us. Some are co-owned with TV stations, and the rule change would free them from having to abide by two sets of regulations, he said.
The NPRM on the EAS system proposes “strengthening” it by promoting increased state and local participation, more testing, and improving the system's technology and security, Wheeler said. “The goal is to promote community preparedness and ensure that Americans are best served by the warnings and alerts they receive during emergencies.”