FCC Diversity Committee Has Big Issue with FCC Incubator Program

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Key leadership of the Federal Communications Commission's Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment (ACDDE) have a big problem with the way the FCC has structured the new diversity incubator program they otherwise support, a problem they say could "destroy" the program. That warning came in a call the week of Aug 13 between committee members James Winston and David Honig and Matthew Berry, chief of staff to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. They said they were also speaking on behalf of Broadcast Development Working Group Chair Henry Rivera, committee chair Diane Sutter, and committee member DuJuan McCoy.

The FCC Aug 2 adopted a report and order (a final decision) establishing a framework for an incubator program that will grant existing radio stations media regulatory relief if they successfully help minority or female owners to buy a full-power station, or put struggling owners on firmer footing--it only applies to radio at the outset but could be transitioned to TV. The big problem is with the FCC's definition of "comparable" radio market. For example, they point out, a "small" market with 45-plus full power radio stations qualifies for incubation, while a "comparable" market could be New York because it also has 45-plus stations. "This definition permits a broadcaster to incubate a station in any small market with 45+ full power stations (e.g., Traverse City-Petoskey-Cadillac) and, in return, receive an assignable waiver of the 8-station rule usable in any other 45+ market (like New York City)," they told Berry. They pointed out the problem when the FCC circulated a draft three weeks before the vote, but it was not changed, they said. "The notion that a market with fewer than 350,000 people and 63stations is in any sense “comparable” to a market of over 19,000,000 people with 153 stations is new to communications law and broadcast industry practice, and was not a logical outgrowth of any earlier proceeding," they told Berry.
 


Diversity Committee Has Big Issue with FCC Incubator Program