Visiting the FCC eighth floor doesn’t have as much of a “dramatic impact” for the targets of enforcement proceedings as it can have in rulemakings, said Enforcement Bureau Chief Rosemary Harold in an FCBA brown-bag session Monday. Harold said she has regular meetings with commissioners and occasionally informs them of bureau proceedings to keep them from being surprised. Targets of enforcement actions only sometimes inform the Enforcement Bureau about eighth-floor visits, she said. “It doesn’t always happen,” Harold said.
The 2019 nationwide test of the emergency alert system planned for Aug. 7 (see 1907010041) is expected to be largely routine. It will involve aspects of the system that haven’t been tested since the first nationwide test in 2011, said emergency alerting officials and broadcasters in interviews. Since the 2011 test experienced some complications, they are seen as possible this time around as well, EAS and broadcast officials told us.
Several petitions for reconsideration and a stay request were filed against aspects of the FCC’s revamped FM translator interference rules. That's according to filings posted in docket 18-119 through Tuesday. The LPFM Coalition, radio consultants Skywaves Consulting, and full-power and LPFM licensees are among those challenging the translator interference rules on the 45 dBu contour limit on interference claims and arguing the rules violate the Local Community Radio Act (LCRA).
An NPRM on technical changes to low-power FM rules is considered noncontroversial. It doesn’t go as far as some LPFM stations would like, LPFM industry officials and broadcast attorneys who represent full-power stations said in interviews. Since the NPRM doesn’t tee up previously contentious proposals to increase LPFM power levels (see 1807230039), it's unlikely full-power broadcasters will be concerned with it, broadcast attorneys said. REC Networks founder Michelle Bradley said in posts on her website she wishes for more expansive rule changes but supports all the NPRM’s proposals.
The FCC’s Aug. 1 commissioners’ meeting will be headlined by proposed rulemakings on robocalls and the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, per the tentative agenda and drafts released Thursday late afternoon. Members will vote on an NPRM on low-power FM technical rules, orders on 911 location and small satellites, plus items on a toll-free number auction and local franchising authority over cable.
The FCC voted 3-2 along party lines Wednesday to approve a kidvid order that was little changed from the draft version released last month, as expected (see 1907090069). Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Geoffrey Starks condemned the order. “There is nothing in this item that would prevent a broadcaster from reducing the amount of regularly scheduled, 30-minute core programming aired on its primary stream to zero,” Starks said.
The draft kidvid order is expected to be approved on a 3-2 party line split at Wednesday’s commissioners’ meeting, and will be little changed from the draft version released last month, FCC and broadcast industry officials said in interviews Tuesday. No substantive edits had been made to the item Tuesday afternoon, FCC officials told us. Commissioner Mike O’Rielly published an opinion column in The Hill Tuesday touting the order as “a reasoned and balanced compromise,” adding to the perception that last minute changes to most aspects of the order are unlikely. “It appears that the decision is a fait accompli,” said Parents Television Council President Tim Winter in an interview Tuesday. PTC has opposed the FCC’s kidvid proposals.
The intensifying 2020 presidential race could affect FCC policymaking as the election gets much closer, industry and former officials told us, though they don’t all agree on what the effect will be. Some expect the agency and Chairman Ajit Pai to seek to avoid headline-grabbing rulemakings that create ammunition for President Donald Trump’s opponents. Others expect Pai to push his agenda to get policies approved while Republican control of the agency is certain.
No changes to the draft kidvid order have been suggested by FCC eighth-floor offices, said agency officials. And broadcast attorneys don’t expect much movement on the item before the July 10 commissioners' meeting. The FCC’s Democrats are expected to oppose the order. Though Commissioner Mike O’Rielly has described the item as “balanced,” the two sides appear far apart.
Localities and broadcasters have many options to offer some multilingual emergency alerts, but none is comprehensive, and federal rules requiring them are unlikely to help, said alerting officials Friday during the FCC Public Safety Bureau's Multilingual Alerting Workshop. “There's enough toys in the toy box, let us fit them together,” said Sage Alerting Systems President Harold Price on the event's final panel. “Multilingual still has a long way to go, but there are still things you can do,” said Public Safety Bureau Attorney Adviser David Munson.