Draft NPRM on Extending Online File Requirements to Cable, Satellite, Radio on Circulation
A draft NPRM seeking comment on extending online political ad filing requirements to cable and direct broadcast satellite providers and satellite radio and terrestrial radio stations has been circulated among eighth-floor offices, FCC officials told us Thursday. The NPRM is in response to a petition (see 1409020036) for rulemaking from the Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause and the Sunlight Foundation seeking extension of the online filing rules, which already apply to TV stations. Though the petition only sought to extend the rule to cover pay-TV operators, a comment proceeding on the petition also floated the idea of extending the requirement to radio.
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The commission’s taking action on the matter is not a surprise, said Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford and American Cable Association Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Ross Lieberman in separate interviews. What is “shocking” is the commission’s rapid movement, said Oxenford. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler views the TV station online political file requirements as a success and strongly supports extending the filing requirements to the other media outlets, said the FCC officials. “We’re pleased that they’re doing it as quickly as they are, because it’s easy and its right,” said Georgetown Law Institute for Public Representation Senior Counselor Andrew Schwartzman, who represented the public interest groups in the proceeding. The groups have also filed an application for review asking the FCC to overturn a Media Bureau decision dismissing the groups’ complaints that two stations were violating online political ad funding disclosure rules (see 1410060041).
Similar to the TV-station version of the rule, the NPRM would propose requiring the pay-TV and radio operators to upload to an FCC online database all the information they're required to keep in an available-on-request hard copy file in-station, to make it easier to peruse. The information includes political ad funding data, FCC filings on pending applications and other documents. As was done with requirements for TV stations, the NPRM would propose phasing in the requirement based on the size of the stations and companies involved. The requirement for smaller TV stations to provide an online file took effect this summer, two years after larger stations were required to do so. In response to requests from NCTA and others, the NPRM also would seek comment on small changes to the online filing system, said the officials.
In the recent comment proceeding on the public interest groups’ petition, the majority of filings from broadcast radio interests opposed extending the filing requirements to their stations. The large number of entities filing documents would place a strain on the FCC database during high traffic times, NAB said, and all 50 state broadcasters associations urged the agency to act on the initial petition before extending the rule to radio. “A lot of radio stations are real small operations and not terribly technically sophisticated,” said Oxenford. Radio as a service has a wider range of station size and sophistication compared with satellite and cable, with the smallest operations sometimes having only four or five employees, he said. Such operations would need a lot of time to get used to uploading political ad information online, he said. Smaller TV stations made similar protestations, but have largely not had problems, said Schwartzman. For the smallest radio stations, the commission has a waiver process, he said.
ACA will wait to see an NPRM before commenting on expanding filing rules to cable operators, Lieberman said. NCTA declined to comment Thursday. In comments filed in response to the petition, the association didn’t oppose extending the rules to cable operators. Such an extension should “seek to minimize undue burdens on cable operators,” NCTA said. DBS operators didn't file comments in response to the public interest petition, and neither DirecTV nor Dish Network commented Thursday. “NAB supports the FCC instituting regulatory parity among video programmers by extending online political file rules to cable and satellite providers,” said an NAB spokesman.