FCC to Vote on Public File Item at First GOP-Led Meeting

The first Federal Communications Commission meeting under new, Republican leadership will consist of a single item. That is according to the tentative agenda circulated Jan 10. The noncontroversial item is an order that would "eliminate the requirement that commercial broadcast stations retain copies of letters and emails from the public in their public inspection file and the requirement that cable operators retain the location of the cable system’s principal headend in their public inspection file."

It is a fitting first item since, unlike many a recent vote, nary a discouraging word was heard about it at the public meeting where the commissioners agreed on the proposal. While the public doesn't need to know where the principal headend of a cable system is (where it takes the TV signal off the air and puts it on the wire), and publicizing it could be a security threat, the FCC pointed out in May that TV stations and the FCC still need to know where it is, so the item will elaborate on how that info should be collected and made available to both.