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FCC to Eliminate Main Studio Rule on January 8


On October 24, 2017, the FCC adopted an order eliminating its rule requiring each AM, FM and television broadcast outlet to maintain a main studio located in or near its community of license. The order also eliminated existing requirements associated with the main studio rule, including the requirement that the main studio have full-time management and staff present during normal business hours, and that it have program origination capability. Now, the Commission has revealed, that all of the rules adopted in the main studio order will take effect on January 8.

The main studio rule, adopted nearly 80 years ago, was originally implemented to speed input from community members and the station's participation in community activities. The Commission recognized that in 2018 the public can access information via broadcasters' online public file, and stations and community members can interact directly through alterative means such as e-mail, social media and phone. Given this, the Commission found that requiring broadcasters to maintain a main studio is outdated and unnecessarily burdensome.

In a statement, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said, "The record shows that main studios are no longer needed to enable broadcasters to be responsive to their communities of license. That's because the public these days is much more likely to interact with stations (including accessing stations' public files) online. Additionally, technology allows broadcast stations to produce local news even without a nearby studio. The record also shows that getting rid of the rule will help broadcasters serve viewers and listeners, especially those in small towns and rural areas where the cost of compliance dissuades broadcasters from even launching stations."

NAB Executive VP/Communications Dennis Wharton said, "NAB supports elimination of the main studio rule, which has outlived its usefulness in an era of mobile news gathering and multiple content delivery platforms. We're confident that cost savings realized from ending the main studio rule will be reinvested by broadcasters in better programming and modernized equipment to better serve our local communities. We applaud the FCC for continuing to remove unnecessary and outdated broadcast regulations."

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