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Ownership report

T

TomT

Many of you have heard that a new ownership report must be filed by commercial stations by December 15.

Until today I was unaware the depth of the information required. All directors, officers of corporate licensees must obtain their own FRN (Federal Registration Number) for this report. Require submission of your Social Security number to the Commission. Same rule applies to everyone holding more than 5% interest in a broadcast licensee.

For a partnership, this means each partner must now have a their own FRN, in addition to the FRN for the partnership.
 
Last time I filled one out, there wasn't a requirement for FRNs for everyone. I do remember we had to end up filing transfer of control paperwork because enough of the board members of the parent company had changed.
 
That's why I posted. Just got the call on this from our Washington attorney today. Since the rush for everyone to get an FRN will undoubtedly swamp the Commission's system, time is short and the time is now to start collecting the information.

The real messy filings will be those not-for-profit licensees who operate commercial stations (or stations listed as commercial with the Commission). Typical example will be religious broadcasters on AM and non-reserved FM channels who have kept their stations commercial in order to avoid all the onerous regulations about commercial content that apply to the NCE band. Even though the "commercial" content may simply cover operating costs.

Many of these entities have boards with 10, 20 members. Most of whom will have no idea why you would need their social security number for what is volunteer work.
 
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