FCC Regulatory Fees 'an Old Formula,' Says Broadcast Lawyer; ACA Applauds DBS Hike
Broadcaster reductions in the FCC 2019 regulatory fee order (see 1908280021) as compared with the NPRM are "a rare win against ever-increasing regulatory fees," blogged Pillsbury broadcast attorney Lauren Lynch Flick Wednesday. The "narrow approach" to funding the FCC "makes…
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little sense," said Flick. It collects fees from licensees, "while charging no fees to those that rely on the FCC’s rulemakings to launch new technologies on unlicensed spectrum" or participate in rulemakings. Unlike other licensees, broadcasters "have no ability to just pass those fees on to consumers as a line item on a bill," Flick said. The regulatory fee process "is mired in a system in which broadcasters are left holding the bag for more than 35% of the FCC’s operating budget." The lawyer called it "an old formula, and it no longer works." America's Communications Association said the order's increases on direct broadcast satellite operators is "welcome progress" toward fee parity, though the FCC could have gone further. It said smaller MVPDs have been subsidizing DBS, and the FY 2020 regulatory fee order "should complete [the FCC's] long journey to fee parity for all MVPDs.”