NPRM on NCE, LPFM Applications Considered Noncontroversial
A draft NPRM that would simplify processes for prospective low-power FM and noncommericial educational (NCE) station operators to apply for licenses during filing windows isn’t expected to draw controversy or much pushback at the FCC, said broadcast attorneys and industry officials in interviews. Most of the proposed rule changes would have little practical effect until a filing window for LPFM or NCE licenses is opened. It’s unlikely such windows would be opened until the rulemaking proceeding kicked off by the NPRM is complete, said Garvey Schubert's Melodie Virtue. The current proposals would mostly “get rid of some regulatory gotchas” that were barriers to entry, Virtue said. The NPRM is set for commissioners' Jan. 30 meeting.
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The draft seeks comment on proposals that seem based on challenges to rules from previous filing windows in 2007 and 2013, attorneys said. “It appears that the NPRM was not prompted by any single group representing noncommercial broadcasters, but instead raises a number of issues and problems that have been raised before the FCC in comparative cases in the last decade,” blogged Wilkinson Barker's David Oxenford. Some plans stem from filings in the media modernization proceeding by LPFM group REC Networks.
NCE and LPFM officials cited proposed changes that would require prospective licensees to show evidence on their application they have the right to build a station on the site they proposed, which would ease the application process. “If we had a site assurance certification requirement with the documentation requirement, it could have avoided a significant number of questionable applications,” in previous windows, said Michelle Bradley of REC Networks.
The draft seeks comment on allowing LPFM construction permits to be transferred to other entities after 18 months, a REC request. Rules prevent entities unable or unwilling to construct their station from transferring the permit. “As long as the Commission enforces the existing rules regarding the ‘non-profit’ aspect of assignments/sales, then I don't see any reason why we can't allow a ‘failing’ grantee to give their permit to another equally qualified organization,” emailed Bradley. The rule is intended to deter “gamesmanship” and trafficking of construction permits, but Bradley said the industry has changed greatly since it was enacted. The NPRM would seek comment on eliminating a three-year holding period on new stations and allowing LPFM construction permits three years to be built out. Regulations require LPFM licensees to submit an extension request to get to three years, and it's nearly always granted, lawyers said. Making it automatic would ease the Media Bureau burden, they said.
The draft proposes eliminating rules requiring that prospective NCE licensees alter governing documents to include provisions on remaining local and promoting diversity. Such changes have discouraged entities from getting licenses because it’s often prohibitively difficult for large, diffuse public broadcasting organizations and government entities such as public universities to change bylaws and governing documents, Virtue said. The proposal in the NPRM would still require commitments to localism and diversity but remove the need to alter governing documents. “The FCC suggests that these obligations are unnecessary -- the actual conduct of the applicant can be weighed by the FCC whether or not the company’s governing documents contain explicit restrictions,” Oxenford said.
The NPRM would seek comment on changes to point systems the FCC uses to choose among mutually exclusive applications. The draft proposes loosening anti-collusion rules that prevented LPFM applicants from working together to aggregate points. Many applicants were working together in this way anyway, and the rule change would level the playing field by explicitly allowing this behavior, Virtue said. Such a change should include more safeguards to prevent collusion, Bradley said.