Robocall Order Could Lead to Penalties for All FRN-Holders

The order, approved in late 2024 under the previous administration, updates filing requirements for entities in the Robocall Mitigation Database (RMD), but contains a provision requiring any entity with an FCC Registration Number (FRN) to update its contact information in the Commission Registration System (CORES) within 10 days of a change. It also imposes a $1,000-per-day fine on entities that fail to update their information. Though the order links that penalty to failure to update information in the RMD, it’s not clear that it doesn’t also apply to the FRN deadline, attorneys told us. Nearly every entity that deals with the FCC has an FRN, from low-power FM stations to individual industry executives to large carriers.

“The FCC’s analysis in the order of the impact is woefully inadequate,” said Pillsbury attorney Scott Flick in an email. “It focuses only on telecom providers in relation to robocalling, and fails to note that anyone who has ever done business with the FCC, or is connected to an entity that has done business with the FCC, is required to have an FRN.” Though the order was approved in 2024, the CORES provisions weren’t widely known outside the robocall sphere, attorneys told us. “Consistent with our view stated in the NPRM that such a rule would impose no significant costs on CORES users or present any significant countervailing burdens, no commenters opposed our proposal,” the FCC said in the order. Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney Davina Sashkin said Wilkinson attorneys who specialize in robocalls flagged the item's wider implications. The FCC didn’t respond to a request for comment on the order’s CORES provisions.

For smaller entities such as low-power FM stations or low-power TV owners that are less likely to be aware of the 10-day deadline, the penalties could be devastating, said Sashkin. The “small little community groups” that often operate LPFMs “are not thinking to themselves when they move their office across town that they could get fined thousands of dollars if they don’t update the FCC in 10 days,” she said. Even amateur radio operators have FRNs, said Michelle Bradley of LPFM entity REC Networks. “This basically goes to anybody in any service.” Many FRNs “are connected to people who haven’t done anything before the FCC in years, or are dead,” wrote Flick. “Others had to get an FRN simply in order to be listed in a broadcast ownership report, and no longer have any connection to a broadcaster or any other FCC licensee.”

"This issue was recently brought to our attention, and we are reviewing what it means for broadcasters," said an NAB spokesperson. "The FCC should take a practical approach. With hundreds of thousands of FRNs, it is not reasonable to expect everyone who does business with the FCC to update their information on such a short timeline or face significant fines.”

Attorneys told us that it’s unlikely the FCC on its own would investigate or issue penalties for CORES information that hasn't been updated, but the rule could lead to additional penalties when FCC audits or investigations turn up violations, increasing the amount owed by licensees. Bradley compared the possible penalty to a seat belt violation noticed by a police officer after the car has already been pulled over for speeding. “They can just tack it on,” she said. Smaller FCC licensees typically update their information whenever they have new filings at the FCC, not immediately after an address change, Sashkin said. “There's no nefarious intent. They're not intending to mislead or anything.”

Sashkin said Wilkinson is warning all its clients about the 10-day deadline and the need to update the FCC. It should be basic practice for all FCC licensees to update the agency when something about their license changes, but smaller entities have fewer resources and often less awareness of deadlines and penalties, Bradley said.