David Oxenford

By: David Oxenford, Wilkinson Barker Knauer

As we noted this past weekend in our weekly update of regulatory actions, the FCC last Friday released its Order setting the regulatory fees due from broadcasters and other FCC regulated entities – fees that the FCC is required to collect each year the start of the federal government’s new fiscal year which begins in October.  This week, the FCC released a series of public notices detailing filing procedures.  First was a Public Notice setting the deadline for payment of the fees as 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on September 26.  That Notice also stated that fees must be paid through the FCC’s CORES database, which is now open for such payments. That initial Notice promised a series of other public notices which followed, each addressing particular aspects of the fee filing process.  However, even with all the notices about procedures, there already have been issues reported and questions about some of the payments and processes.

The follow-up public notices included a Fact Sheet – “What You Owe” – from the Media Bureau setting out specific fee filing procedures for broadcasters.  That Fact Sheet, in addition to reiterating the requirement that fees be paid through the CORES system, notes that there is also a Media Services webpage from which broadcasters can view their fee obligations and get other information about the fee filing process.  It has been reported that this webpage has, in some cases, been providing information different than that contained in the CORES system – including different information about the amounts of the fees that are owed for specific stations.  We understand that the FCC is looking at these discrepancies and have been told that the CORES data should be the correct information.  But if this issue comes up for one of your stations, we suggest an inquiry to confirm which payment amount is correct.

We have also heard from several radio broadcasters surprised that their fees have gone up, even though their facilities have not changed in the prior year, when all reports were that radio fees were generally about 5% lower this year than last year.  It appears that, in some cases, that may be due to population changes.  The FCC earlier this year started using 2020 census data in all of its calculations of the population in the service area of all broadcast stations.  This data has also been incorporated into the computation of fees.  Radio regulatory fees are tiered for each class of radio station based on the population that any station is predicted to cover.  As last year’s fees were apparently calculated using 2010 census data, if the population in your service area has increased in the new census, that increase can push stations into a higher fee category.  Stations have been unpleasantly surprised by some of these increases when they had been expecting their fees to decrease.

Yet another Public Notice was released this week, describing the procedures for filing waiver requests or requests to defer the regulatory fee payment, or to set up an extended payment plan for the payment of these fees.  A request for a waiver or reduction in the fees owed, or a request to set up a payment plan, must be received by the FCC by the September 26 deadline.  Any request for this kind of payment relief must include a very specific showing of why it is in the public interest – in most cases met only by showing the financial impossibility of making such payments by the September 26 deadline.  Tax returns, balance sheets and financial statements, showings that no unusual payments were made to employees or insiders, evidence of other financial obligations, and other documents showing why the payment cannot be made on a timely basis should be submitted with a waiver or deferral request.

Failure to make these payments by the deadline (or to file a timely waiver/reduction/deferral request) will  result in a 25% penalty, plus interest.  The failure to make a payment will normally result in a “red light” on all station applications – putting on hold any application for technical changes, sales, or other requests for FCC action.  The failure to pay can also bring collection actions by the government and, in the worst case, the cancellation of a station license.  These deadlines are important – read these notices, consult with your attorneys and advisors, and make those payments before that September 26 deadline!

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.