FCC Scraps Plan To Hike Radio Fees

The FCC has issued a Report and Order adopting a schedule of regulatory fees for Fiscal Year 2021 that offers broadcasters some victories in the arguments they had made against higher fees. 

The order says that broadcasters won’t have to pay a share of the $33 million in additional funding that was specifically appropriated by Congress to implement the Broadband DATA Act and create new broadband maps. That decision will however increase fees for cable operators, telcos and others involved in broadband.  

The FCC also noted in the order that “we seek comment on whether we should adopt new regulatory fee categories and on ways to improve our regulatory fee process regarding any and all categories of service. Some commenters suggest that we impose fees on particular industry participants, essentially asking that we consider new fee categories. For example, NAB asks that unlicensed spectrum users, especially large technology companies, be required to pay regulatory fees, and we seek comment on this proposal. We seek comment on the legal basis for assessing regulatory fees on such users, consistent with the precedent interpreting our section 9 authority.”

In recent months, the NAB had pushed back against FCC proposed regulatory fee increases, saying in a statement that “its original regulatory fee proposal...would have required local radio and television broadcasters to subsidize unrelated work at the Commission.”

In response to the order by the FCC setting regulatory fees for Fiscal Year 2021, NAB Senior Vice President of Communications Ann Marie Cumming issued the following statement:

“NAB greatly appreciates the FCC’s efforts to revise its original regulatory fee proposal that would have required local radio and television broadcasters to subsidize unrelated work at the Commission. The change is not only the right outcome, but critical to the many broadcasters’ ongoing service to their local communities.

"NAB and our members look forward to working with the FCC in the coming year to take a deeper look at the regulatory fee process to ensure all stakeholders that benefit from the Commission’s work are paying their fair share and that those currently subsidizing the Commission are no longer paying for work unrelated to their industries.”

On background: Under the FCC's initial regulatory fee proposal for Fiscal Year 2021, broadcasters faced a 5-15% increase in regulatory fees, despite the Commission’s general salary and expenses budget increasing by only 0.5%. In its comments and reply comments, NAB said the proposed increase was based on the FCC’s decision to make broadcasters pay for a significant portion of the $33 million in additional funding that was specifically appropriated by Congress to implement the Broadband DATA Act and other inequities in the FCC’s approach.

In its meetings with FCC Commissioners and staff, NAB urged the Commission to:

• adjust its proposal so that only the beneficiaries of the Commission’s Broadband DATA Act initiatives pay for the associated costs;
• ensure that the wireless industry pays for its fair share of the Commission’s costs;
• expand the base of fee payers to include Big Tech and other unlicensed spectrum users that use a substantial amount of the Commission’s resources and benefit from its activities; and
• refrain from moving forward with its proposal to change broadcast television fees from a more accurate, individual population-based fee to a less precise tiered system.