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.

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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 | More …