'No Basis' to Stay Foreign Sponsorship Rules, FCC Tells DC Circuit

There's “no basis” for suspending the FCC’s “targeted, straightforward” foreign sponsorship disclosure rules, the agency told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Monday in docket 21-1171 in response to a stay request from the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters and the Multimedia, Telecom and Internet Council (see 2112220048). The rule is “narrowly tailored,” doesn’t cause harm to broadcasters and imposes only “a limited duty to name check two government websites” to determine if a lessor is a foreign-sponsored entity, the agency said. The FCC countered broadcaster arguments that the rule solves a nonexistent problem. “An agency need not suffer the flood before building the levee,” the FCC said. Since the rule is intended to address undisclosed governmental sponsorship, the few previous incidents may be “the tip of the iceberg,” the agency said. The FCC also dismissed broadcaster claims that the rule violates the First Amendment. The rule is within the agency’s authority because it's content neutral and “is a reasonable condition on the privilege of broadcasting over the nation’s limited airwaves,” the agency said.