The NAB is urging the FCC to “fundamentally modernize” its regulatory framework. Responding to Chairman Brendan Carr’s “Delete Delete Delete” initiative, the association submitted a lengthy filing.
Its headline recommendations have been well reported: Delete the local TV ownership rules; delete local radio ownership subcaps in all markets; delete rules constraining radio ownership in Nielsen markets outside of the top 75 and unrated markets; delete all restrictions on AM ownership; and in Nielsen Audio markets 1 through 75, change the rules to permit a single entity to own or control up to eight commercial FMs. Broadcasters, it said, “cannot even hope to compete in the 21st century marketplace against exponentially larger digital media and advertising platforms without gaining greater national and local scale.”
However, the filing suggested numerous additional changes, including some that have seen little industry debate. Here is a summary of additional NAB proposals of interest to radio.
Minimize the burden of the online public file and public file requirements — NAB says the rules “require broadcasters to maintain and upload an extraordinary amount of information, or at a minimum, ensure such information has been uploaded.” (It listed those items, adding a note to the commission: “Congratulations if you made it all the way to the end.”)
It said these obligations place heavy burdens on stations, expose stations to frivolous complaints that are costly to resolve, and provide little demonstrable benefit to the public. NAB said that only 0.060 percent of the U.S. population viewed broadcast stations’ online public files in 2021. Further, broadcasters face substantial penalties for making simple filing and uploading errors. NAB listed steps the FCC could take to streamline the process.
Eliminate the expanded foreign sponsorship identification rules — NAB has challenged the rules in court as unconstitutional but said the FCC should not wait for a court ruling. The expansion of the rules to non-candidate political advertising and paid PSAs was adopted “without proper notice, without evidence, and in violation of the APA and the First Amendment. The diligence requirements also exceed the FCC’s statutory authority and impose needless burdens on broadcasters and advertisers.”
Eliminate the biennial ownership report requirement — “These reports do not provide material public benefit, as much of the information about the station owner is tracked elsewhere, such as on the station’s license. Indeed, very little information collected in these ownership reports is uniquely important to the public.”
Drop requirements that compel broadcasters to announce renewals or transfers of licenses — NAB argues that the rule “imposes yet another compliance burden on broadcasters to air the notification, to place the notification on their stations’ website, and to upload certification of the notification to their stations’ public file. The opportunity cost of reserving airtime impinges on station profits; the public rarely avails itself of these opportunities to provide feedback on station applications. If anything, these on-air announcements are a nuisance to most viewers or listeners who have no interest in participating in application proceedings. Finally, the commission has less costly ways to provide this information to the public.”
Cut back the EEO rule substantially — Keep the part that mandates equal opportunity and forbids discrimination in employment against any person because of race, color, religion, national origin or sex. The rest, NAB said, requires “a plethora of hiring practices and record-keeping obligations that far exceed what is reasonably needed to fulfill the purpose of the rule.” And NAB said FCC has never found a broadcaster to have engaged in unlawful discrimination since the rule was implemented in 2002.
Eliminate the EEO audit process — The audits are a burden, especially for small stations, it argued; and the FCC has conducted EEO audits of at least 20,000 broadcast stations in 20 years but produced fewer than 20 notices of apparent liability admonishments, most of which involved record-keeping. Also, it is the only rule where the FCC selects stations at random each year. “All other broadcast rules have the expectation that licensees will comply, and rule violations are driven by complaints or considered during the license renewal process.”
Eliminate the Form 395-B filing requirement — The FCC’s decision to reinstate the form and publish the data is under review in a court challenge. NAB said the the costs to stations “dwarf any potential benefits.” The public, the FCC and industry have lived without collection of the form “for more than 20 years, without evidence of harm to any stakeholders,” and broadcasters “already have every incentive to broadly recruit and ensure equal opportunity in hiring, given the intense competition for qualified employees in today’s marketplace.”
Eliminate the telephone broadcast rule, which disadvantages broadcast journalism — “However well-meaning in trying to protect the public’s privacy rights, the telephone broadcast rule places broadcast journalists at a disadvantage in covering the news. … It prevents them from catching an impromptu story by recording a telephone conversation with a source. Journalists who operate on non-broadcast media sources are not subject to the same limitation. This asymmetry is only exacerbated by the emergence of new technologies and media sources.”
Delete the FM radio duplication rule. Again. — In reviving the rule in 2024, “the FCC relied on bare assertions about harm that could result in the absence of the rule, but neither the FCC nor … musician advocates could point to any actual harm that had resulted from eliminating the rule four years earlier.”
Eliminate minimum efficiency standards that hamper AM stations — NAB said these standards for non-directional stations require large antennas, which in some sites can be impractical or expensive. “With technological improvements, other AM antenna designs have emerged that are not as large and provide sufficient coverage; unfortunately, these new designs do not meet these minimum efficiency standards.” The standards also may create a barrier to entry for AM stations. “In particular, these standards limit stations’ ability to acquire and operate from smaller parcels of land closer to a station’s audience and may cost less.”
Eliminate rules that complicate authorization to access 1605–1705 kHz for new AM stations — Acknowledging that demand for this spectrum is light, NAB said FCC rules require prospective stations to file a petition during a filing period set by the commission. “The FCC has not announced any such filing windows in over 20 years. If the FCC eliminated some of these restrictions, it may open up ‘green field’ opportunities, as the United States only has 53 stations presently authorized to use this ‘expanded band.’”
EAS participants should have the option to use a software-based ENDEC solution — NAB reiterated its arguments on this proposal, which Radio World has reported on elsewhere.
Fix the rule governing “false EAS alerts”— The NAB said the rule contains vague language and that FCC interpretations over three decades “have made determining what kinds of sounds in content constitute an unlawful simulation an ambiguous, subjective exercise. … [S]ometimes broadcasters guess correctly, and sometimes they do not, even after carefully reviewing the content before airing.” The false alert rule can inhibit airing of content that may well be permissible, “especially given the FCC’s practice of multiplying fines based on the revenues of a violator and whether the same, singular mistake affected multiple stations.” It said FCC should delete language prohibiting transmission of a simulation of the EAS codes or attention signal and “narrow application of the rule to the transmission of any false or fraudulent signal of distress that triggers an actual EAS alert.”
Terminate inquiry into whether all broadcasters should be required to file reports in DIRS and NORS during a disaster — As RW has reported, NAB believes the longstanding, successful voluntary DIRS process is adequate and that stations already have every incentive to try to maintain operations and reach out to the FCC or emergency response officials for help if needed.
Terminate consideration of the proposal to require EAS participants to provide multilingual EAS alerts — NAB said the proposal was under-developed and left open too many questions. “[B]roadcasting alerts in other languages should remain voluntary and based on a station’s familiarity with its local community. Broadcasters are in the business of knowing their audiences and serving their needs, and inserting the FCC into this relationship is unnecessary.”
Eliminate the Contest Rule — “While NAB recognizes the value in ensuring contests are administered fairly, the Contest Rule, in practice, is overbroad and duplicative of Federal Trade Commission and state enforcement activities. … While seemingly a benign effort at creating transparency for contests hosted on broadcast TV and radio stations, the Contest Rule has been a hobgoblin of minor contest infractions.”
Eliminate technical definitions that no longer are used or relevant — The include “combined audio harmonics,” “incidental phase modulation,” “stereophonic crosstalk” and “stereophonic separation.”
The FCC should formally purge itself of the News Distortion policy — “The FCC’s informal news distortion policy provides the commission narrow authority ‘to take action on complaints about the accuracy or bias of news networks, stations, reporters or commentators’ in their coverage of events if they meet certain evidentiary standards.” NAB called the policy legally dubious, constitutionally problematic and redundant in today’s media ecosystem.
Close pending proceeding mandating disclosures of the use of artificial intelligence in political ads — NAB wrote, “The FCC should CLOSE this proceeding without taking any further action and hopefully forget this was even a thing.”
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