David Oxenford

By: David Oxenford, Wilkinson Barker Knauer

On September 17, The FCC released a Public Notice announcing that its CORES system, through which regulatory fees are submitted, has been updated and the incorrect regulatory fee amounts for radio stations have been corrected.  As we wrote last week, the FCC asked that radio broadcasters suspend their fee filings when it became apparent that many radio fees had been miscomputed and CORES reported those fees to be much higher than they were supposed to be.  The Public Notice says that problems that caused the misstated fees have been corrected, and that radio operators can now submit their fees.

The Public Notice says that fees are still due by September 26 at 11:59 PM EDT.  No extension of time appears to have been granted.  The Public Notice also says that the FCC will “reconcile” with radio broadcasters who paid an incorrect amount before the issue with CORES was discovered -seemingly indicating that refunds will be provided to those who paid more than was due.  The FCC says that they will be reaching out to those broadcasters who paid incorrect amounts before the CORES problem was discovered.

In some spot checks, it appears that CORES is now showing fees approximately 5% lower than the amounts paid by radio stations last year which, as we noted when the fee schedule was finalized, is what was anticipated.  But we suggest that all station licensees continue to look closely at the fees listed in CORES and investigate any concerns that they may have, and that they do that investigation quickly so that they can meet the September 26 fee filing deadline.  Failure to file timely (or to seek a waiver by the September 26 deadline – see the FCC Fact Sheet on the procedures for seeking waivers) will result in a 25% late fee.

David Oxenford is MAB’s Washington Legal Counsel and provides members with answers to their legal questions with the MAB Legal Hotline. Access information here. (Members only access). There are no additional costs for the call; the advice is free as part of your MAB membership.