WASHINGTON—What to leave in. What to leave out. That is the question the Federal Communications Commission is asking in a review of its “rules applicable to media entities, including broadcasters, cable operators, and satellite television providers.”
The FCC’s issued a Public Notice Thursday at its May open meeting, inviting public comment on “which media rules should be modified or eliminated as unnecessary or burdensome.”
The commission said the review would allow it to “reduce regulations that can stand in the way of competition, innovation, and investment in the media marketplace.” It also seeks input specific to small businesses.
“Today’s media entities are subject to a multitude of regulations, many of which are decades old. By launching this initiative, the FCC takes another step toward modernizing its rules,” the commission said.
America’s Public Television Stations, a group of exactly what the name says, was good with the move.
“Countless rules are decades old, with no relevance in the modern media world. The prudent reform of these rules will give public television stations an opportunity to invest more time and resources in local service and less in ensuring compliance with anachronistic regulations,” the APTS said in a statement.
The Modernization of Media Regulation Initiative docket is No. 17-105, and now contains just one comment from an LPFM pertaining to media rules. The record also includes handful of other mistakenly filed comments pertaining to the net neutrality docket, No. 17-108.
