FCC Approves Changes To Noncommercial Station Ownership Disclosures, Eases Ban On NCE Third Party Fundraising

Rule Changes

The FCC approved a change to the rules that will now allow noncommercial educational broadcasters to avoid having to submit personal information about all board members or directors, a burden added to NCEs in a JANUARY 2016 revision of the ownership reporting rules. The change allows individuals serving as officers or board members to obtain "special use" registration numbers that do not require the individuals to submit personal information like the last four digits of their social security number, date of birth, residential address, and full name. The FCC will still require submission of information about the gender, race, and ethnicity of governing officers and board members.

"This approach properly balances the Commission’s need to improve its broadcast ownership data with the potential chilling effects that a mandatory reporting requirement could have on participation in NCE station governance," the Commission wrote in announcing the move, which passed in a 2-1 vote, with Republicans Chairman AJIT PAI and Commissioner MICHAEL O'RIELLY approving and Democrat MIGNON CLYBURN voting no.

In addition, the Commission, by the same 2-1 margin, relaxed its prohibition on noncommercial TV and radio stations' participation in third-party fundraisers. Previously, such fundraising for outside non-profits required a temporary waiver typically granted only in the case of a crisis or natural disaster. Under the new rule, NCEs may devote up to one percent of their annual airtime to fundraising for third-party tax-exempt non-profits without a waiver, but must air disclosure messages and can only be reimbursed by the charities for expenses directly related to the fundraiser.  Exempt from the new rule are stations that receive funding from the CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING.

And the Commission, as expected and with the same 2-1 margin, restored the TV "UHF Discount" used in determining compliance with national ownership caps "until the Commission can address its national television ownership rule more holistically, in a proceeding to be launched later this year." The rule, allowing UHF stations to be counted as reaching only 50% of their markets when counting against the 39% national coverage cap, was in place until AUGUST 2016 and was eliminated in light of the changes in allocations when TV was converted to digital transmission (and most VHF stations were moved to UHF RF allocations).

« see more Net News