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Localism NPRM released

W

w9wi

I'm a bit surprised there hasn't been more discussion of this document, released yesterday:
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-09-30A1.doc
"Policies to Promote Rural Radio Service and to Streamline Allotment and Assignment Procedures"

To vastly oversimplify, what they propose to do is:

- Consider a proposal to allot a new FM channel or license a new AM station to a community within an Urbanized Area as a proposal to allot that channel/station to the Urbanized Area. A proposal to allot a channel to a Nashville suburb of 35,000 population that didn't already have any radio stations would no longer trump a proposal to allot that channel to a town of 8,000 people 50 miles outside Nashville.

- Similarly, when considering whether an existing station can be moved to a new community, an attempt to move a station to a community in an Urbanized Area (or to a place where it would provide a city-grade signal across 50% or more of the Urbanized Area) would be considered a move to the Urbanized Area itself. Such a move would be unlikely to be approved.

- Provide a preference for stations licensed to Native Americans or recognized tribes, provided the proposed station would be the first station licensed to a community located on tribal lands, and at least 50% of the station's city-grade coverage would be over tribal lands.

- Prohibit downgrading AM facilities through the licensing process and for four years after grant of a permit, if superior coverage was used as grounds for granting that permit.

- Require that AM applications be complete and grantable when filed - not allow corrections during the auction process.

- Limit an applicant to five AM applications in any given filing window.

- Prohibit FM translator permitees/licensees from moving between the commercial and non-commercial bands until they've been on the air for at least two years.


There are other, more obscure (IMHO) proposals here.
 
Those first two items sound like they're just looking at reinstating rules that did previously exist, at least until the late nineties. I hadn't been aware that those particular rules had been repealed, but I also never saw much of any sign that they really achieved much.

All that happened was that companies trying to do move-ins proposed a new city of license just outside the urbanized area, and selected a transmitter site that placed a city grade signal across 49% of the metro population.
 
w9wi said:
- Provide a preference for stations licensed to Native Americans or recognized tribes, provided the proposed station would be the first station licensed to a community located on tribal lands, and at least 50% of the station's city-grade coverage would be over tribal lands.
Click to expand...

That's keeping with their previously-stated agenda of favoring minority ownership.

The one aspect they may not be considering is that tribal territory is considered a foreign country, and therefore exempt from FCC Rules & Regs. It's possible for a tribe to operate a pirate radio station on tribal land, and the Fed Gov could do nothing about it. It also opens the door to US radio companies to sell their licenses to foreign companies, something currently prohibited by FCC rules.
 
TheBigA said:
The one aspect they may not be considering is that tribal territory is considered a foreign country, and therefore exempt from FCC Rules & Regs. It's possible for a tribe to operate a pirate radio station on tribal land, and the Fed Gov could do nothing about it. It also opens the door to US radio companies to sell their licenses to foreign companies, something currently prohibited by FCC rules.
Click to expand...

The NPRM recognizes the unique status of Native American territory.

I don't know of any current stations on Native American territory that don't have FCC licenses. (there was one in the past on the Menomonee territory in northeast Wisconsin. It was not generally recognized as legal but I don't think it was ever raided, I think they shut it down on their own motion. There is also a station in Canada which has only a technical licence - they feel they don't need the non-technical licence generally required for Canadian stations.)

I think you could reasonably assume that if Native Americans really believed they could operate broadcast stations on tribal land without a license, there would be stations on the Gila River, Salt River, and Fort McDowell territories -- which surround Phoenix and would provide a city-grade signal across the city. Other tribal lands would provide coverage of Albuquerque, Tulsa, and Seattle.
 
My point though is what jurisdiction the FCC has over such facilities. And what might happen if the RIAA gets a performance right, and these radio stations choose to ignore it.

The wording of the NPRM would prevent tribes in license trafficking, as some did 20 years ago. They would buy or receive a license as a tax-free donation, hold the license for a minimum period, and then sell it at a huge profit.
 
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