NAB Files Brief Challenging FCC on Foreign Govt. Programming

RADIO ONLINE | Wednesday, December 8, 2021

The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC) and the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters (NABOB) filed last night with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit regarding their lawsuit challenging a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) order mandating disclosures for foreign government-sponsored programming.

In their brief, the organizations argued that the FCC lacks the authority to impose the investigatory requirements mandated by the order. In addition, the organizations argued that the FCC's justification for its rules was lacking, as the Commission cited only a few examples of foreign governmental entities sponsoring undisclosed broadcast programming as the reasoning for requiring every broadcast station to conduct inquiries for every existing or new leased programming agreement. The order also fails to address the problems with undisclosed foreign governmental programming on cable systems and the Internet, which is where the issue primarily exists, the brief argued.

NAB, MMTC and NABOB jointly released the following statement:

"NAB, MMTC and NABOB strongly urge the Court to overturn the FCC's flawed decision requiring overly burdensome investigations by every broadcaster into every sponsored program. While we share the Commission's goal of ensuring the public understands when listening or viewing programming supplied by foreign governmental entities, the FCC's order fails to adequately, sensibly or fairly achieve this objective. We appreciate the Court's consideration of this issue and believe it will agree that the Commission overstepped its bounds."

The entire brief can be downloaded as a pdf file HERE.