Is the FCC’s Online Public Inspection File a #Fail?
In the eyes of the NAB’s three top legal team members, it very well may be. And, they’ve shared their thoughts with individuals in the offices of the agency’s two Republican Commissioners and with staff in the offices of Democrats Geoffrey Starks and Anna Gómez.
On May 30, NAB Chief Legal Officer and EVP/Legal and Regulatory Affairs Rick Kaplan, was joined by recently appointed deputy Nandu Machiraju and Vice President of
Innovation and Strategy Alison Martin in individual meetings to discuss MB Docket Nos. 24-147 and 24-148.
They are tied to the new NPRM focused on low-power television, and it provided the NAB an opportunity to discuss the “OPIF” requirements being suggested for LPTVs by giving the association a road to share just what it thinks about it: the online public file is a failure.
The three met with Deena Shetler and Harsha Mudaliar in Gómez’s office; Adam Cassady and Sara Rahmjoo in the office of Nate Simington; Arpan Sura in Brendan Carr’s office; and Hannah Lepow in the office of Commissioner Starks — the latter, of which, saw the NAB’s VP for Spectrum Policy, Robert Weller, also participated in the meeting with Hannah
Lepow.
At each meeting, Kaplan and his NAB associates requested that the Commission consider seeking comment about whether the public file is serving its intended purpose in the first instance. In an ex parte filing discussing the meetings, Kaplan shared, “We noted that,
historically, few members of the public access the online public file. We also observed that
increasing the reporting requirements would impose yet another regulatory obligation on
broadcasters with opportunities for inadvertent rule violations and dubious corresponding
benefits to the public.”
The “OPIF” dates to 2012. And, failure to adhere to the FCC’s rules on file uploads has provided the agency with thousands of dollars in operating revenue through forfeitures. In November 2023, the timely placement by every noncommercial educational TV licensee of an issues/programs list detailing shows “that have provided the station’s most significant treatment of community issues during the preceding three month period” yielded a $3,000 fine for Pioneer PBS.
While $3,000 is considered a small fine, totaling them up over the course of a year brings a significant number of dollars to the FCC.
Enter Jessica Rosenworcel, who on May 15 introduced the FCC OPIF proposal, which was stricken from the agenda of the agency’s June Open Meeting after all five Commissioners agreed that a NPRM to learn more was in order.
