On the Way Out: Two Vestigial Remnants of Pre-Online Public File Universe

[Commentary] Following through on a promise it made in January, the Federal Communications Commission has proposed to eliminate one element of its local public inspection file rules for broadcasters, and it has now proposed to do the same for cable operators as well. On the chopping block: for commercial broadcasters, the obligation to maintain in their public files copies of correspondence from the public concerning station operation; and for cable operators, the requirement that their public files include a listing disclosing the location and designation of the system’s principal headend.

The two to-be-dispatched rules have been on the books for decades. Their contribution to the “public interest” has, as far as we can tell, been indiscernible. Indeed, the cable headend disclosure requirement may have been contrary to the public interest – at least according to some cable operators who expressed concern for the security of their headends as long as the locations of those headends were, by Commission mandate, available to anyone and everyone. So tossing both of these rules is truly a no-brainer.