The FCC has published proposed regulatory fees that U.S. radio stations, among others, would pay this fall for fiscal 2025.
The notice of proposed rulemaking includes a cut of approximately 4% to 4.5% in the fees that AM and FM broadcasters pay. This would be the third year in a row in which those fees went down.
Fees vary by type of station and by market size; the FCC publishes a chart each year with 54 cells showing the fees. The proposed fees for 2025 are shown at the bottom of this story.
For example, an FM Class B in the largest market would owe $19,140, down from $19,995 last year. Meanwhile, an AM Class A station in the smallest market would owe $535, down from $560 a year ago.
Calculations
The FCC said it needs to collect $390.1 million in the fiscal year to cover agency salaries and expenses. Fees typically are due Oct. 1, the start of the government’s fiscal year.
Radio’s fees help cover operational costs of the Media Bureau, which had a budget of $116.1 million for FY2025. The FCC proposes to collect $51.3 million from radio and TV, up slightly from the $51.2 million in fee revenue for FY2024.
The FCC expects $1.5 million in regulatory fees from LPTV, Class A/FM translators and FM boosters.
The proposal includes a plan to reclassify 61 indirect full-time equivalent employment positions (FTEs) as direct FTEs, which could mean payors that support the Media Bureau would see their direct FTEs increase by 13. (The costs of indirect FTEs are borne by all regulatory fee payors, while direct FTEs are paid only by the licensees serviced by the relevant bureau or office.)
The proposed changes would also add 23 FTEs to the Wireless and Wireline bureaus. The payors to those bureaus would have to bear the cost of the additional FTEs.
The National Association of Broadcasters has pressed the FCC in recent years to recalculate its regulatory fees to ease the burden on broadcasters. That lobbying appears to have helped in the case of radio broadcasters, who would see a decrease in their fees for the third year running. Radio’s fees were down about 6% last year.
The commission is seeking comment on its this regulatory fees proposal (FCC No. 25-30). Comments are due July 7 and reply comments due July 21.
Looking ahead, the FCC last week proposed an overall budget of $416.1 million for fiscal year 2026, an increase of 6.6% increase from FY2025.
The chart below shows the proposed fees for radio in FY2025:
