FCC Sticks With Proposed 2022 Regulatory Fees

The Federal Communications Commission has issued its Fiscal Year 2022 Regulatory Fees Report and Order, which rejects arguments by the NAB and state broadcasters that the FCC should revamp the way it calculates regulatory fees, reports TV Technology.

The FCC did, however, issue a Notice of Inquiry stating that “the Commission seeks further comment on its methodology for allocating indirect FTEs, as raised in the FY 2022 NPRM.  While we found above that the record supported a limited correction to the method used for calculating the fees associated with certain indirect FTEs in the Universal Service Fund context, we seek to more broadly explore these issues outside of the short timeframe necessitated by the annual regulatory fee proceeding. The responses we receive will help us determine if there are lines of inquiry worth exploring in order to further revise our methodology. Finally, we hope that the comments and replies will allow interested parties to gain a better understanding of the regulatory fee process and the issues of importance to the various groups affected by our regulatory fee policies.”

The FCC is required to cover its entire budget from regulatory fees. The NAB and state broadcast associations had raised a number of objections to the way those are calculated, including arguments that broadcasters were paying “burdensome” fees for the work the FCC does on broadband. 

"We decline to modify our methodology to continue to exempt broadcasters’ from the costs associated with the Commission’s broadband work,” the FCC said in the order.

The NAB and state broadcast associations had argued they were paying “burdensome” fees for the work the FCC does on broadband.

In response to the FCC's Fiscal Year 2022 Regulatory Fees Report and Order, the NAB issued the following statement from NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt:

"NAB is very appreciative of the hard work and thoughtfulness shown by the Commissioners and their staffs to reduce the exorbitant increase broadcasters faced in the FCC's draft regulatory fees order. We are also grateful to the bipartisan coalition of lawmakers who voiced their opposition to overly burdensome regulatory fees that would jeopardize local broadcasters' ability to provide local news, emergency information and community service to millions of Americans.

"Despite these important advances, there is more work to do. We hope the Notice of Inquiry serves as a springboard to a thorough modernization of the FCC's regulatory fee methodology to ensure all parties that utilize and benefit from the Commission's work pay their fair and appropriate share. It is no longer good enough to tinker around the edges. We remain committed to working with the FCC, lawmakers and stakeholders to create a regulatory fee structure that promotes fairness, parity and consistency."