The FCC is expected to adopt its final FY 2026 fee schedule later this year, and the NAB wants the Commission to reconsider a proposed 46% fee increase for broadcaster-operated earth stations.
As the NAB sees it, the hike is disproportionate and effectively penalizes broadcasters for using satellite infrastructure to distribute programming to their audiences.
The trade group made its case in a June 12 teleconference with FCC Space Bureau and Office of Economics and Analytics staff, following formal comments filed in May. At issue is a proposed jump in the per-authorization earth station fee from $2,060 to $3,010 for fiscal year 2026. NAB attributes the spike largely to a shrinking pool of earth station licensees spreading a revenue requirement that itself rose nearly 19%. Earth licensees fell from 4,000 in 2025 to 3,250 in 2026.
The NAB’s core objection is structural: broadcaster-operated earth stations are fixed facilities that don’t move or change operating parameters, requiring minimal FCC oversight. Yet broadcasters pay earth station fees on top of their existing broadcast license fees, meaning some are paying more to operate a satellite uplink than to hold the broadcast license itself.
NAB also pointed to what it calls an uneven playing field in how the Space Bureau spreads its costs. Satellite operators are facing only a 9 percent fee increase this cycle, with Starlink paying around $191 per satellite.
NAB asked the FCC to cap earth station fees at $2,500 per license, a 21% year-over-year increase more in line with other Space Bureau fee changes, and to shift additional costs toward non-GSO operators, which NAB argues are better positioned to bear them and represent the bulk of the bureau’s current regulatory workload.
