FCC Sets Nov. 9 Deadline for Comments on Possible Radio, TV Regulatory Fee Changes

Comments are due by Nov. 9 on a possible new methodology for calculating regulatory fees for AM and FM radio and for TV and on reallocating full-time equivalent employees (FTEs) from the Wireline Bureau working on numbering and universal service issues, said a notice published Thursday in the Federal Register. Reply comments are due Dec. 7. The FY 2015 fees were adopted last month, and the FCC said it's seeking input on proposals that came up during the course of the FY 2015 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking such as separating broadcasters that serve between 3 million and 6 million people from those that serve more, and on standardizing the incremental fee increases as the populations served by radio broadcasters increase. The agency said it's also seeking feedback on automatically assessing fees based on the relative type and class of service -- for example, assessing FM classes B, C, C0, C1 and C2 stations at twice the rate of AM class C stations. The FCC said it's seeking comment on assessing AM class A stations at 60 percent more, class B stations at 15 percent more, and class D stations at 10 percent more than class C stations. The agency also said it's seeking input on readjusting the broadcast TV regulatory fee table to its once-traditional determination that Top 10 market stations should pay about twice what stations in markets 26-50 pay. And since the spectrum incentive auction may result in fewer TV stations, and thus changes in the regulatory fee apportionment among the remaining ones, the FCC said it wants comments on changing the methodology of assessing TV regulatory fees. The agency is seeking comment on combining wireless and wireline services into the Interstate Telecommunications Service Providers category and on reassigning some Wireline Bureau FTEs as indirect for the purpose of regulatory fees.