FCC Proposes to Eliminate Broadcast Mid-Term Report

RADIO ONLINE | Thursday, February 22, 2018

FCC

The FCC is proposing to eliminate a broadcast filing requirement and instead rely on publicly available information in its periodic reviews of broadcaster employment practices. Currently, the Broadcast Mid-Term Report (Form 397) requires certain radio and television outlets to submit information to the FCC about their Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) practices which they largely already provide in their FCC-maintained online public files.

The information is used to conduct the required review of the broadcast stations' employment practices at the mid-point of their eight-year license term. Because most of the information collected in Form 397 is now otherwise available to the Commission and the public via the online public file, the Commission has tentatively concluded that the requirement to file Form 397 is outdated and unnecessary for the Commission to conduct its mid-term EEO reviews.

This is the fifth rulemaking stemming from the Modernization of Media Regulation Initiative that the FCC launched in May, 2017, to reduce unnecessary regulation that can stand in the way of competition and innovation in media markets.