Groups and individuals continue to weigh in on whether the Federal Communications Commission should put a strict limit on the number of Non-Commercial Educational (NCE) radio station applications that any non-profit can file for. Most commenters support the idea; but some Christian outfits want to relax the rule.

In early April, the FCC's Media Bureau announced an application window to begin on Friday, October 12th—that's the day that the Commission will accept formal requests from non-profits for full power NCE radio licenses. The window closes on Friday, October 19th.

"If you do not apply now, there is no telling when there will be another chance," warns a primer published by the National Federation of Community Broadcasters. Many parties are rushing to prepare their license requests.

But they're also participating in a proceeding on whether the FCC should cap the number of applications any group can file. In the proceeding announcement, the FCC tentatively suggested that no entity should be allowed to file more than ten applications.

"If it is determined that any party to an application has an attributable interest in more than ten applications," the Notice proposes, "the Bureau will retain the ten applications that were filed first—based on application file number—and dismiss all other applications."

Anthony Wilhelm of the NTIA
speaking at the FCC's
Consumer Advisory Committee
on August 10th

"I think that as we move into a more deregulatory phase, in terms of regulators, that it becomes absolutely critical, crucially important that we step up our outreach and education efforts," said Federal Communications Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate at this months' FCC Consumer Advisory Committee (CAC) meeting, held on a scalding hot DC morning (believe me, I was there).

"And that's why you are all so important . . . and so I would say that wherever you all go, whether it's Sunday school, or a dinner party, I'd just try to drop in the DTV transition . . . "

Tates' audience chuckled for a few seconds. The Commissioner announced that she was excited because "I am going on my first trip to Brazil." Having concluded her remarks, she fled the gathering.

The 25 or so CAC members gave Tate polite applause, but I doubt some or even most of them are buying the Bush administration's "deregulatory phase" approach to what one National Association of Broadcasters official has called "our Y2K"—the impending shutdown of all analog TV signals after February 17, 2009.

LLFCC ran into Dan Isett last week at the Federal Communication Commission's Consumer Advisory Committee meeting, on which Isett, the PTC's Director of Corporate and Government Affairs, sits as a member. Ten minutes later we were still talking about policy. So I called Dan today at his PTC office in Alexandria, Virginia, to get the conversation on the record. Turns out he's been reading my blog . . .

LLFCC: Dan, as you know, in June the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals overturned FCC indecency citations against Fox TV, arguing that the agency's stance against so-called "fleeting expletives" was overbroad. I know that you guys didn't like that decision. What do you think Congress or the FCC should do about it?

Dan Isett of the PTC

Dan Isett: Well, the decision was made on very narrow administrative grounds, so essentially if the Congress were to simply say 'no, what we meant by' broadcast indecency included things like profane language at the times of day when children are most likely to be in the audience, then that would render this decision moot, and that's something that we would like to see the Congress do.

LLFCC: Sooner or later the FCC is going to make a decision on the proposed XM/Sirius merger, what do you think they should do?

Over 20 percent of subjects in a major survey told Nielsen Media Research that they have no access to the Internet. The findings come from a recent study Nielsen completed for the Federal Communications Commission, one of ten sponsored on behalf of the agency's media ownership proceeding.

20.3 percent of respondents told Nielsen that they never log in, either at home or at their job. Of those with access, 75.1 percent said they reach the Internet at home. 31 percent said they get entry to the Web and other Internet services at work. The average respondent spent about 12.8 hours a week on line, according to the report.

To complete the June 2007 survey, Nielsen Media researchers worked with a sample of 141,324 phone numbers belonging to individuals 18 years of age or older. Of those phone number owners, 3,101 agreed to be asked questions about their news and information getting habits.

Among the survey's findings:

The average, or mean, respondent in this survey said that they watch or listen to 10.4 hours of broadcast television a week. 8.4 percent said that they consume 29 hours or more TV a week.

National Public Radio has asked the Federal Communications Commission not to approve the proposed merger of XM and Sirius radio, a move that would require the FCC to waiver its anti-monopoly language for satellite audio.

"While the Commission possesses the authority to waive its rules," NPR attorneys conceded in their August 10th filing, "we do not think it can or should do so here. A waiver is appropriate in particular circumstances when application of the rule would produce harsh results."

NPR contends that neither XM or Sirius are harmed by the restriction, included in the FCC's original Order creating a Digital Audio Radio Satellite service (DARS or SDARS):

"Even after DARS licenses are granted, one licensee will not be permitted to acquire control of the other remaining satellite DARS license," the agency's 1997 authorization declared. "This prohibition on transfer of control will help assure sufficient continuing competition in the provision of satellite DARS service."

NPR says a waiver is not justified because:

• Both services have exceeded expectations. "That success is directly attributable to competition between the Applicants, which has resulted in a significant expansion of SDARS channel capacity, an incomparable array of program offerings, and an impressive consumer response," NPR writes.
• Although, as XM and Sirius argue, the marketplace now offers competitive new options like MP3 players, this is nothing new. For years terrestrial radio has faced challenges such as CD players. "On balance, then, while circumstances have changed to some degree since the initiation of SDARS, those changes reflect the continuing evolution of communications and consumer electronics rather than a fundamental marketplace shift." XM and Sirius do not need merger relief for conditions that have always prevailed in one form or another.
• XM and Sirius have not assured the FCC that their proposed merged pricing schedules will survive in the long run. Although they have promised affordable monthly rates and "a la carte" packages for consumers after they merge, NPR notes that their filings warn that "[t]he companies do not have a predetermined time period during which the new prices will remain in effect."
  " The net result," NPR concludes, "is a set of promises of dubious consumer benefit and no enduring substance or duration."

Ironically, like Clear Channel Communications, also opposed to the merger, NPR offers programming on several Sirius channels. "NPR's member stations are, themselves, both producers of noncommercial educational programming and suppliers of programming to the SDARS market," the radio services' filing notes.

NPR submitted their comments about two weeks after the formal conclusion of the FCC's comment period on the XM/Sirius merger.

Fred Johnson, University of Massachusetts, Boston with Karen Menichelli, Benton Foundation What's going on in Community Media?

In a media environment increasingly segmented by ideology, class, or ethnicity, "is there an electronic place where people can convene as citizens? Can the new media create a public square where people can be heard, and hear each other?"

Yes, concludes the Benton foundation's lively and informative new study What's Going on In Community Media?: "Communities across the country are taking control of media, adapting new technologies to the social, economic, educational, cultural, and information needs of their residents."

This thirty four page survey, described by its author, Fred Johnson, as "the most comprehensive look at the breadth of US Community Media institutions and practices in the last 15 years," also outlines the challenges facing a medium that relies on uncertain sources of funding, volunteer power, and a lack of clarity on how to assess its own effectiveness.

Those ten studies on media ownership that the Federal Communications Commission promised almost a year ago are out, to the displeasure of the FCC's two Democrats.

"Just when we hoped an open media ownership process was developing here at the FCC, along comes this bucket of ice water," Commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps declared in a press release issued today. "These are ten supposedly serious studies put together by teams of economists and analysts over an eight month period. One study alone contains over 13 million data points. Yet the Commission expects the public to analyze all ten studies, and reams of underlying data, and file comments 60 days from today!"

The studies, part of a regimen of public meetings and hearings that the FCC promised when it restarted its media ownership proceeding last summer, cover everything from the state of the radio industry in 2007 to the state of minority and female ownership of media enterprises.

The data for the studies, included on the FCC's special page for the reports, is 65 megabytes in size.

The FCC's media ownership proceeding has invited public comment on its broadcast ownership rules. Up for revision, or elimination, are rules limiting how many TV stations, newspapers, or radio stations a single entity can own in a region, or nationally. In 2003 the Commission dramatically relaxed those rules, only to see a federal court strike its decisions down a year later.