In case you were wondering what to do with the extra day in this year’s calendar, there’s a new “enhanced disclosure” requirement from the FCC that will require TV stations, and possibly radio stations, to spend more time on public file activities.

.

If our reading of the pending rules is correct, you will need several extra days and some extra staff to meet the requirements.

 

BCFM board member Brian M. Madden, a member of Leventhal Senter & Lerman, put together an advisory for our membership about the new rules and I wanted to pass along a summary. As we have previously discussed in this column last March (Nobody Is Fine About Paying Fines), the FCC has levied some pretty heavy fines for non-compliance with public file regulations. Earlier this year, the FCC proposed fining KBZK Bozeman, Mont., $10,000 for not having five years’ worth of its news and public interest programs lists on file and KRIS-TV Corpus Christi, Texas, for omitting one year's list, according to Broadcasting & Cable.

 

So we encourage you to also check in with your in-house and FCC counsel and begin to take the necessary steps for avoiding any fines.

 

Public Files Will Need to be Accessible Via Stations’ Web Site

First, the new rules, which are likely to take effect this spring, will require all commercial and noncommercial TV stations with Web sites to upload and maintain online the contents of the station’s public inspection file. Stations will also be required to complete and maintain a "hard copy” of their public file at their main studio.

 

Fortunately, copies of applications, ownership reports, licenses and other information that is already available from the FCC’s Web site will not need to be posted on the station’s site, as long as links to these documents on the FCC Web site are provided.

 

The station’s political file will also be exempt from online posting as will copies of non-electronic written comments from viewers. However, the FCC’s pending rules require that e-mail from viewers be uploaded and kept for three years.

 

Stations must broadcast announcements concerning the existence and location of the public file two times each day and at least one of those times needs to fall between 6 p.m. and midnight and viewers must be advised that the file can be inspected at the main studio and on the station’s Web site.

 

While the rules for radio have yet to be approved, it is expected that the same regulations will be extended to radio stations in the very near future.

 

New Requirements for Reporting PSAs

Second, subject to OMB approval, the FCC adopted Form 355, a new standardized form on which TV stations are to record information concerning news and public service programming addressing local and national issues of public concern.

 

The new form, which will replace the “issues/programs” summary required for more than 20 years, will be completed and filed electronically with the FCC quarterly. It will also be a required piece of the station’s public file and will need to be posted on the station’s Web site.

 

Each station will be required to report in detail the news and public service programming broadcast on its analog channel and on every digital program stream, broken down by time, date and category (such as national news, local news, local civic affairs and local electoral affairs). For each program, the station must state whether the program:

(i)    was locally-produced;

(ii)    had been aired previously on the station or on another station;

(iii)   was part of a regularly scheduled news program; and

(iv)   was broadcast in exchange for the payment of any form of consideration to the station.

Public service announcements carried during the quarter are to be separated into paid and non-paid categories, and each is to be listed by name and sponsoring organization, length, the number of times run and the percentage of times aired in prime time.

Form 355 also requires that the station describe the efforts undertaken to determine the programming needs of its community and how the station has met those needs. The number of hours of non-exempt, closed-captioned programming presented during the quarter must be stated. With respect to any program that was carried without captioning, the station needs to specify the basis for treating the program as exempt from the applicable requirements.

Finally, the station must list each instance when it broadcast emergency information, and any reason why any emergency broadcast announcement was not fully accessible for persons with disabilities.

Unless I miss my guess, these requirements will mean that stations will have to add one or more full-time employees just to monitor programming to ensure that Form 355 is filled out completely and accurately.

Deadlines for New Public File and PSA Reporting Requirements

 

The new public file requirements will go into effect for TV stations 60 days after OMB approval is announced in the Federal Register.

Comments with regard to the standardized reporting form may be submitted to the OMB. In addition, these enhanced disclosure requirements are a substantial basis for many of the localism proposals now pending before the FCC; comments in that proceeding are due March 14.

We encourage you to consult with your communications counsel if you wish to participate in the OMB or the FCC proceedings, or if you need additional information concerning the new disclosure requirements.

As TVNEWSDAY’s Editor Harry A. Jessell noted in a recent Jessell at Large column: “TV and radio stations will be facing competition from new media that will make the last five years seem like the 1960s when they were the only game in town. To survive, they are going to have to move quickly and deftly. They can’t afford any regulatory handicaps.”

Given the compliance deadline if the proposed rules take effect, it’s not too soon to being working with your station’s webmaster on how you will post the required files and create the links to the copies that are on the FCC’s Web site. This promises to be a complicated and time-consuming process.

Your World. Your Connection.

Our 2008 Conference is really taking shape and it promises to be one of our best ever. We’ve just confirmed Dr. Peri Shamsai, who will provide her insights on the developing business models for digital media—social networking, new video search engines, micropayment models and other cutting-edge approaches.

Dr. Shamsai provides a wide variety of strategic and operational services to Ernst & Young’s media and entertainment clients, including leading initiatives in corporate strategy, marketing, business affairs and new media. She also serves on the faculty at Michigan State University, where she teaches in its Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media.

Entertainment is a big part of our business, and BMI is providing us a double treat for our Wednesday night “Happy Hour and a Half” and Member Awards event.

This year’s performers include Grammy-nominated songwriter and two-time BMI songwriter of the year, Jeffrey Steele, a staple on Music Row. His gifts are lent not only to writing, but performing and producing as well.

He will be joined by Alissa Moreno, whose music has been featured on MTV hit shows including, Laguna Beach, The Hills, and Newport Harbor. In addition to co-writing and singing the theme of the ABC show Hope & Faith (second season), her song Far From Here was used in radio, television, Internet and movie theaters to promote the hit series Army Wives.

We are also very excited about the addition of a session that’s intended to bring out the best in individuals and teams. The “Golden Personality Type Profiler” drives higher performance by helping employees to understand how they make decisions and relate to others.

This session will teach attendees about the five dimensions that define individual style and how to leverage their personality styles to improve their team and their individual performances.

To encourage attendees to take the assessment before heading to Dallas, we are providing free profiles to the first 100 people that register for the conference after Feb. 19.

Please be sure to visit the BCFM Web site—www.bcfm.com— for more information about our conference and other upcoming educational programs.

Mary Collins is the president and CEO of the Broadcast Cable Financial Management Association, a professional society for addressing the diverse needs of financial and business professionals in the broadcast, cable, and electronic media industries. Her column appears here every other Friday.