WASHINGTON—Those interested in submitting comments in regards to the FCC’s 2018 Quadrennial Regulatory Review Notice of Proposed Rulemaking released this past December now know their deadlines.
The FCC’s Media Bureau has announced the comment deadline for this NPRM has been set for April 29, while the reply comment deadline is May 29.
As it is required every four years, mandated by Congress, the FCC takes a look at its broadcast ownership rules to see if they “remain necessary in the public interest as the result of competition,” or if they can be modified or eliminated due to marketplace changes. The rules up for review deal with local radio ownership limits, local TV ownership limits and the dual-network rule that prevents a single company from owning two of the major broadcast networks. The review asks whether these rules should remain, be modified or eliminated.
The FCC also has three proposals, in relation to a court requirement, that look at diversity in the review of its regulations that are open for comments. These proposals are on whether to extend the cable procurement EEO regs to broadcast, whether to identify a “tipping point” of source diversity in lieu of ownership rules and one on tradable diversity credits.
The 2018 Quadrennial Review NPRM is available on the FCC’s website.
