Rules On New Ownership Reports Released - Including Proposals for Information from Noncommercial Broadcasters
The full text of the FCC's revisions to its ownership report filing process was released last week. The new rules will require that all commercial stations (including LPTV stations) file an updated Form 323 on November 1 every other year - starting in 2009. The Order does not add much to the summary that we provided when the decision was first announced, though it does make clear that the electronic form will be revised to no longer allow for PDF attachments, instead requiring that all information be provided on the electronic form itself, so that it can be more easily searched. With complex ownership structures, which are sometimes not easily explained in the confines of an FCC form, this may create some difficulties. The Order did not seem to freeze the obligations for the filing of Form 323 Ownership Reports on the old version of the form on the current schedule while the new form is being created and approved by the Office of Management and Budget under the Paperwork Reduction Act, so stations in states with June 1 deadlines for their biennial reports should continue their preparation (see our Advisory on the the reports that are due on June 1 for radio stations in Arizona, District of Columbia, Idaho, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming, and television stations in Michigan and Ohio).
The Order also asked for further comment on the Ownership Report requirements for noncommercial licensees, including LPFM stations. The Commission asks not only for comments on whether noncommercial operators should be required to file their reports on the same two year cycle as commercial broadcasters, but also for comments on what information should be required from these operators. As noted by the FCC, the question of who controls a noncommercial station is often not an easy one - as there are varying degrees of control and oversight of station operations at many of the institutions that hold noncommercial licenses. As noted by the FCC, there has been a Notice of Inquiry into noncommercial broadcast station ownership pending since 1989, trying to set out when there is a transfer of control of such entities that needs prior FCC approval. Noncommercial stations have been operating under the interim policy set forth in that Notice for almost 20 years. While the Commission does not seemingly ask for any change in the interim policy at this point, by gathering information about what ownership information should be reported on the new ownership report for a noncommercial entity, a resolution of that long-pending proceeding could potentially be in the works.
Comments on the noncommercial aspects of this proceeding are due 30 days after this Order is published in the Federal Register, with Reply comments due 15 days later. Noncommercial entities concerned about the information that will be required on these ownership reports should now be preparing to file their thoughts and concerns on these proposals.
