FCC: Radio, TV On School Buses Should Be Decided At Local Level

The Federal Communications Commission has concluded that the decision on whether radio and TV programs on school buses are in the public interest are best decided at the local level "where individual school districts in close partnership with parents and other stakeholders can weigh the particular benefits and potential harms of the service in their communities." BusRadio is the only service currently serving school buses with such a system. The FCC pointed out that since BusRadio holds no FCC licenses, it is not subject to the regulatory oversight the Commission has over broadcast services. But it did refer to its children's television programming rules to suggest that BusRadio, and by extension any other service that wanted to operate in that space, could follow the same guidelines. Those include prohibitions on over-commercialization and host-selling. The Campaign for a Commercial-free Childhood, which pressed Congress for the report, called it "essential reading for any school district considering a contract with BusRadio." It pointed to the FCC comments about the commercial load and sufficient buffer between ads and content.