3-2 Vote Approves NPRM Prioritizing Broadcasters With Local Programming

The FCC approved an NPRM on a 3-2 party line vote that prioritizes evaluation of applications from broadcasters that originate local programming. “Here, we propose to sweeten the incentives for locally-originated news and content,” said Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a statement released with the item. “Without it, stations can just pump in programming from the largest metropolitan areas and miss opportunities for content creation in their own backyard.” The NPRM proposes to use station quarterly programming lists to evaluate whether a station originates local programming, and prioritizing review of applications from those stations. The priority review would apply only to applications that aren’t going through a “simple” review process, such as those with holds or petitions to deny, the NPRM said. The item positions the proposal as a correction of the 2017 removal of the main studio rule. In it, the agency questions “whether the Main Studio Elimination Order’s predictive judgment -- that the Commission’s action there would foster creation of more and better local content -- has actually come to pass." The order’s criticism of the elimination of the main studio rule is the basis for Commissioner Brendan Carr’s dissent, he said: “There is no basis for asserting that conclusion here, but more fundamentally there is no reason to get into that rule at all in this Notice.” Carr said the majority declined to remove the language. “How can the FCC ground its localism proposal in the FCC’s record-less conclusion that the 2017 main studio repeal was an error while simultaneously not proposing to reinstate that rule?” Carr said, adding that he hoped the disagreement was “an isolated hiccup in our otherwise good working relationship.” Commissioner Nathan Simington was similarly critical of the NPRM: “This is a collateral attack on the Commission’s elimination of the Main Studio Rule, and the item all but says so.”