NAB: FCC Should Reconsider FM Non-Dupe Recon Order

The FCC should reconsider resurrecting rules restricting commonly owned, same market FM stations from duplicating content, NAB said in a petition for reconsideration posted Monday in docket 19-310. In 2020, the previous FCC dropped the rule for FM and AM stations, but the current commission reinstated the FM portion in June, responding to a 2020 petition from REC Networks, the musicFIRST Coalition and the Future of Music Coalition (see 2407020055). The FCC “has no basis to reverse its initial judgment in this proceeding and willfully turned a blind eye to conducting any research including seeking any updated comment after waiting nearly four years to act,” NAB said. The FCC should have sought comment on whether the reversal was needed but instead acted based only on the record from 2020, NAB added. The trade group also said the recon order returning the nonduplication rules “turns the petition for reconsideration standard on its head.” FCC precedent requires showing a material error or omission in the order, but in the FM nonduplication recon order the agency “reasons that it has the ability to reconsider the Order here because the material error is that the Order itself was wrongly decided.” NAB added, “Were the FCC to adopt this new approach to petitions for reconsideration, the standard would amount to no standard at all.” The FCC should “reconsider its grant of the Reconsideration Petition in this proceeding, and solicit comment on the effect of eliminating the FM radio duplication rule during the past four years.”