Broadcaster Issues Highlighted in Senate Bill Thanks to Strong Advocacy Work

Last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously passed the Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) bill, which funds several agencies including the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), for the 2017 fiscal year. This follows closely on the heels of the House Appropriations Committee’s passage of their FSGG funding bill the previous week.

As the result of advocacy from NAB, broadcasters and state associations around the country, several issues of concern to stations were addressed in these bills and the accompanying committee reports.

Both the Senate and House committee reports express concern over the potential insufficiency of the $1.75 billion broadcaster relocation fund and 39 month deadline for repacking following the spectrum auction. This language paves the way for future action once the scope of the repack is known. The Senate bill states the committee is “gravely concerned” about the potential shortfall and instructs the FCC to inform the committee immediately should facts come to light that signal a potential funding shortfall or timing issue.

Both bills contain language clarifying the congressional intent of last year’s omnibus bill and signal strong support for the ongoing operation of joint sales agreements (JSAs). The Senate bill, which was drafted after the Third Circuit decision, prohibits the FCC from conditioning a transfer in station ownership on the unwinding of a JSA. It also contains committee report language that strongly discourages the FCC from moving to attribute JSAs in its upcoming media ownership quadrennial review.

The Senate committee report instructs the FCC to move forward with ATSC 3.0 - Next Generation TV - as expeditiously as possible so that broadcasters can purchase the appropriate facilities during the repacking phase.

Both the Senate and House bills instruct a government agency (the Government Accountability Office and the FCC, respectively) to conduct an impact study on the potential effects of the FCC’s set-top box rule and to report back to Congress before the FCC is allowed to finalize its rule.

These provisions have no effect unless these bills are passed. However, the inclusion of these issues provides a meaningful signal of Congress’ policy priorities for the next presidential administration.