Bipartisan Compromise Possible on Kidvid at FCC, Won't Satisfy Children's Advocates
Eighth-floor officials were working toward a compromise Wednesday that could lead to a unanimous vote for Thursday’s draft kidvid item, FCC officials told us. Commissioner’s offices were negotiating on possible edits that would make the wording more palatable to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel. The compromise would involve changing the draft to remove language reaching tentative conclusions, leaving the NPRM closer to the notice of inquiry pushed for by Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., and advocacy groups.
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An NPRM without tentative conclusions isn’t substantially different from one with them, said Georgetown University Institute for Public Representation co-Director Angela Campbell, on the board of Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. Even without such conclusions, the agency could proceed directly from an NPRM to a draft order, whereas if only an NOI were issued, the FCC would have to issue an NPRM and hold another round of comments before moving on to an order, Campbell and a broadcast lawyer noted.
The draft kidvid NPRM’s original text tentatively concluded the requirement such content be at least 30 minutes long should be eliminated, reports should be filed annually and noncommercial educational stations should no longer have to use the E/I (educational/informational) symbol. It seeks comment on relaxing timing rules, possible changes to pre-emption requirements, and letting stations satisfy the requirements on multicast channels or by sponsoring content on other stations. Broadcasters supported the proposals, as did 23 conservative groups (see 806210021).
Action “should be based on evidence” and founded in data, Campbell said. Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, who led the kidvid efforts, said the request from groups such as the National Hispanic Media Coalition and Common Sense to downgrade the proceeding to an NOI is attempt to inject “unnecessary delay” (see 1807050039). Broadcast attorneys agreed removing the tentative conclusions would change little about the proposal.
Rosenworcel and an eventual second FCC Democrat are considered unlikely to support the final rulemaking if it contains many of the changes to kidvid proposed by O’Rielly, attorneys said. Geoffrey Starks is the nominee. “The mechanism matters,” National Hispanic Media Coalition General Counsel Carmen Scurato said in an interview. An NOI would allow the subsequent NPRM to be based on better information, she said.
Senate Consumer Privacy Subcommittee ranking member Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Markey pushed for the NOI shift during a Wednesday news conference. Preliminary conclusions in the NPRM are “hunches” without a thorough, fact-based review and would “in effect say we're going to rule now and get the facts later,” Blumenthal said. That would be a “violation” of FCC basic principles, he said. O'Rielly created the NPRM “without a clear understanding of what the repercussions will be,” especially for children in low-income households and rural areas who most depend on kidvid-mandated programming, Markey said. Both senators are open to having a conversation about how changes in the media landscape might necessitate a rule change, but only after the FCC does a study.
Georgetown's Campbell is concerned TV outlets will “do even less” in children’s programming if “you give them more flexibility” in meeting the requirements, she said at the event. NHMC Director-Government and Legal Affairs Francella Ochillo cited the effect the NPRM would have on children who would lose access to programming “they need to learn and thrive.”