FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has ambitions of “smashing technological silos that have held back innovation for decades.” Carr is no stranger to strongly worded commentary, but what does the silo-smashing actually mean for broadcast regulation in the US? And will Carr prove to be all mouth and no trousers?
Carr’s anti-silo rhetoric comes on the one-year anniversary of the FCC’s “Delete, Delete, Delete” initiative, which has been busy trashing outdated regulations. Carr took the opportunity to celebrate the elimination of 1,274 rule provisions, 149,566 words, and more than 338 pages of obsolete regulations since the administrative overhaul was triggered.
“The vast majority of deadwood is gone. But we’re not slowing down,” said Carr in a statement released last week, announcing the vote on a seventh direct final rule that will slash a further 18 rule provisions and another 6,400 words from the code of regulations.
But while Carr is busy bragging about reducing regulatory clutter, the industry would prefer it if the FCC were rewriting the fundamentals of communications law, namely the outdated TV ownership rules and a decision on clearing a path for ATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV).
Annoyingly, the FCC’s latest 53-page filing does not contain any references to siloed technologies. Worse, the report makes only a single passing reference to “innovation” – a throwaway citation of a 2021 report on innovation opportunities of spectrum through incentive auction.
The closest we can find is a reference to increasing operational flexibility by removing restrictive technical requirements, such as the 20% minimum power increase rule for AM stations. Through this initiative, the Commission seeks to allow broadcasters to “optimize their technical operations” and benefit from “increased flexibility.”
Old spectrum baggage scrapped:
But perhaps the most significant takeaway from the latest docket involves the removal of obsolete post-incentive auction rules.
The FCC has deleted several rules that are no longer necessary, since the post-incentive auction transition concluded in 2020. For broadcasters and media organizations, that meant no more obligations to warn viewers about the post-auction reshuffle of TV spectrum.
The Commission eliminated the extended notice period for repacked stations and removed references to the post-incentive auction transition period. That is good news, as it signals the FCC’s acknowledgement of shifting eyeballs to broadband-delivered TV and the demand for ATSC 3.0 stations.
We should therefore expect future rules to focus more on coexistence between wired and wireless connectivity, and less on legacy broadcast constraints.
More breathing room when things break:
The scrapping of spectrum baggage segues with a section on Technical Special Temporary Authorizations (STAs), with the initial STA window extended from 90 days to up to 180 days. In layman’s terms, that means if a transmitter fails or equipment is delayed, broadcasters are given more time to fix it without constantly asking for permission.
An extended window will be a relief to many equipment suppliers and software vendors in the media space too, as it takes some of the pressure off.
It is likely this change has been influenced by the many macroeconomic factors of recent years that have triggered crippling supply chain delays—Covid-19, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and now the war in Iran. It suggests the FCC understands modern supply chains and infrastructure delays, as broadcast infrastructure becomes more software-defined.
One system to rule them all:
The FCC’s crown jewel from its deregulatory “Delete, Delete, Delete” program is the transition to a new filing platform, which is now effectively complete.
It’s far from sexy, but stick with us.
References to the legacy database (CDBS—Consolidated Database System) have been removed, and the new LMS (Licensing and Management System) terminology has been brought in for managing broadcast applications and licenses.
The result is a total clean-up of digital TV terminology and relief for broadcasters as they no longer have to straddle two systems.
With everything now centralized in the LMS, the FCC is better positioned to analyze filings, automate processes, and potentially enforce rules more algorithmically. This could be a precursor to a more data-driven regulatory environment in the near future.
Hopefully, now that the tidying exercise is complete, the FCC can get to work fulfilling demands of the NAB to abolish national and local broadcast ownership restrictions. The NAB argues these rules no longer reflect the realities of the media landscape, hindering broadcasters’ abilities to compete with lightly regulated streaming and social media companies.
Of course, the approval of the $6.2 billion merger between Nexstar Media Group and Tegna has effectively rendered these legacy media ownership rules redundant – setting the scene for change. However, this deal is far from cemented in stone, with legal challenges from DirecTV set to delay completion.
Last summer, we saw the NAB lobby Carr to approve software-based EAS encoders/decoders, arguing it would reduce operational costs and improve disaster recovery. The proposal is backed by radio giants like iHeartMedia and Cox, and aligns with the “Delete, Delete, Delete” deregulatory initiative.
Admittedly, a formal Report and Order document is not the right place for Carr’s colorful language, hence his separate statement, yet the lack of clear continuity between this statement and the official document is unhelpful.
Broadly, Carr’s dramatic imagery of smashing technological silos is reference to the continued modernization and harmonization of regulatory and filing systems to improve efficiency. But that in itself is not an exciting story.
Carr has the almost impossible job of bringing some sex appeal to a lengthy set of administrative processes. Some turds just can’t be polished.