FCC eliminates "Main Studio" Rule today

Media Contact:
Janice Wise, (202) 418-8165
janice.wise@fcc.gov

Link: http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2017/db1003/DOC-347048A1.pdf

For Immediate Release

FCC ELIMINATES MAIN STUDIO RULE
Action Will Further Reduce Regulatory Burdens and Costs for Broadcasters
--
WASHINGTON, October 24, 2017—The Federal Communications Commission today eliminated the broadcast main studio rule. The Order retains the requirement that stations maintain a local or toll-free telephone number to ensure consumers have ready access to their local stations.

The main studio rule, adopted nearly 80 years ago, currently requires each AM radio, FM radio, and television broadcast station to have a main studio located in or near its local community. The rule was implemented to facilitate input from community members and the station’s participation in community activities.

The Commission recognizes that today the public can access information via broadcasters’ online public file, and stations and community members can interact directly through alterative means such as e-mail, social media, and the telephone. Given this, the Commission found that requiring broadcasters to maintain a main studio is outdated and unnecessarily burdensome.

Elimination of the main studio rule should produce substantial cost-saving benefits for broadcasters that can be directed toward such things as programming, equipment upgrades, news gathering, and other services that benefit consumers. It will also make it easier for broadcasters to prevent stations in small towns from going dark and to launch new stations in rural areas.

The vote was 3-2. The two Democrats dissenting

Action by the Commission October 24, 2017 by a Report and Order (FCC 17-137). Chairman Pai, Commissioners O’Rielly and Carr approving. Commissioners Clyburn and Rosenworcel dissenting. Chairman Pai, Commissioners Clyburn, O’Rielly, Carr and Rosenworcel issuing separate statements.

MB Docket No. 17-106

###

Story below by Inside Radio

FCC VOTES TO ELIMINATE MAIN STUDIO RULE

By a 3-2 vote along party lines, the Federal Communications Commission today scrapped the nearly eight-decade-old rule requiring radio and television stations to operate and staff a main studio in their community of license in order to originate live programming. The move also does away with the requirement that the main studio have full-time management and staff present during normal business hours.

While stations will now have more flexibility on where they locate a main studio, the changes adopted by the Commission will require stations to maintain a local telephone number in their community of license or else have a toll-free number.

Broadcasters have been shifting from local public inspection files to an online file since 2014 in a transition that will wrap up by March 2018. The Commission says any part of the public file that isn’t part of its online public file will still need to be housed at an accessible location within the station’s community of license such as a public library.

FCC chair Ajit Pai said the record clearly showed that few listeners every stopped into a studio to interact with the station, relying on phone calls and online contact. He also said that stations use their cost savings to improve local programming and news gathering. “Continuing to require a main studio would detract from, rather than promote, a broadcaster’s ability and incentive to keep people informed and serve the public interest,” Pai said.

The date the rule change takes effect will be set once the decision is published in the Federal Register.

Calling it “unnecessarily burdensome” for broadcast stations, the FCC voted in May to open a rule-making to do away with the 78-year-old rule, which was originally designed to make it easy for community leaders and listeners to walk in the front door. Since then it received scores of comments from many broadcasters and other interested parties, the vast majority of which said it’s time to abolish the dated edict.

The National Association of Broadcasters has advocated for the change, telling the FCC that there’s no link between the physical location of a station’s main studio and local news and information. The rule has also come under fire from the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC), which pointed to an analysis it commissioned that indicated the rule disproportionately impacts minority- and female-owned companies.

But the Commission’s two Democrats weren’t onboard with the revisions, arguing it would undercut a local station’s ability to server its community. Commissioner Mignon Clyburn called it a “solemn day,” saying the FCC decision signals it no longer believes stations should have a presence in their local communities. “Why would an industry that repeatedly exposes the virtues of its local roots want to eliminate the only real connection to that very same community,” she said. Clyburn thinks the FCC should have taken a “more measured approach” such as offering waivers that took into account market size and financial hardship. But she said Pai’s office rejected such a proposal.
_______________________________________
Read more:
http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2017/db1003/DOC-347048A1.pdf

http://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/0002/applause-derision-follow-fccs-main-studio-ruling/340646
https://www.fcc.gov/news-events/events/2017/10/october-2017-open-commission-meeting
https://www.rbr.com/on-party-line-vote-fcc-votes-to-end-main-studio-rule/
http://thehill.com/policy/technology/356887-fcc-eliminates-local-studio-requirement-for-broadcasters
http://variety.com/2017/biz/news/fcc-main-studio-rule-ajit-pai-sinclair-1202597651/