Online Political File Extension to Cable, DBS Broadly Supported

Cable associations, direct broadcast satellite companies, public interest groups and broadcasters support extending online political file rules to cable and satellite providers and commercial radio stations, according to reply comments posted Tuesday in docket 14-127. But the groups differ on the threshold for exempting smaller entities, the timing for phasing in new rules, and the formatting requirements for online files. The lone category of regulated entity opposed to falling under online political file requirements is noncommercial radio stations, an exemption supported by nearly all broadcast commenters. In a joint filing, the Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause and the Sunlight Foundation said the FCC should be in a hurry to extend the filing obligations. “It is imperative that all new entities required to upload political files to the online database are doing so as soon as possible, and at least before the next general election in 2016,” the reply comments said.

Along with requiring online political ad information, the FCC should impose rules for how that data should be formatted, the joint public interest filing said. The current online political file system uses PDFs, which can't be searched or aggregated, the groups said. A standard, searchable format would increase transparency and allow the creation of online political file software, the groups said. But DirecTV and other commenters said the FCC's extension of the rules should maximize flexibility in the organization of the online files to reduce the regulatory burden the new rules will create. "As long as DBS providers maintain a complete and orderly file, they should be able to arrange the political file in any way they choose,” DirecTV said. In the NPRM, the FCC said it wouldn't impose format requirements, but the public interest groups suggested a separate proceeding could study the matter.

NAB and NPR joined a group of noncommercial educational radio stations in opposing extending the rules to NCE stations. Since NCE stations can't accept political and issue ads, their political files are empty, the NCE broadcasters said. That means rules requiring them to be posted online would be “the type of nonsensical regulatory requirement Federal agencies, and especially the Commission, should avoid if for no other reason than regulatory credibility purposes,” the NCE broadcasters said. Imposing the rules would be a burden to financially strapped and small NCE stations and serve no purpose, they said. NPR suggested such stations could be allowed to post their files online without being required to do so.

While NAB endorsed a commission proposal to exempt radio stations with fewer than five employees from having to follow the online political file requirement, a group of state broadcast associations said the FCC should set the threshold at 10 employees to ensure “that radio stations unable to bear the added burden are not forced to choose between having an online public file and survival.” The public interest groups said the volume of political advertising a station carries and any affiliation with larger broadcasters should be considered along with station size in deciding who's exempt. “If a station earns significant revenue from political advertising, it should not be exempted from the online filing requirement,” the joint public interest filing said.

Online file rules extended to cable operators should be crafted to avoid duplicating other file requirements cable companies already comply with, NCTA said. “The database should be designed so that a single upload is able to populate multiple files; cable operators should be allowed to link to existing company electronic databases,” NCTA said. NCTA and ACA said small cable operators should be exempt from the new requirements. Though the FCC proposed a threshold of systems with fewer than 1,000 subscribers, ACA said allowances also should be made for systems up to 2,500 subscribers. The FCC also should consider, in extending the rules, the role of buying groups in negotiating ad deals for most cable systems, ACA said.

The FCC's online file rules should take the place of state and local franchise file obligations, DirecTV and Verizon said in their replies. “The Commission should preempt such state and local obligations to ensure the Commission’s online database achieves the desired uniformity, efficiency, and accessibility for public and political files,” Verizon said.

Extending the rules should be an occasion for the FCC to examine its online file enforcement policies, NAB said. “Declining to consider public file complaints submitted from persons or entities unrelated to local communities of license would be consistent with the longstanding purpose of local public file” obligations, NAB said. Such a policy would cut down on “spurious complaints,” the association said.