FCC Asks to Repurpose $4.5 Million to Fund Media Ownership Research, National Broadband Plan Implementation

On July 29, 2010, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski wrote to Congressional Appropriations leaders proposing to reprogram $4.5 million of prior year unobligated funds to enable the FCC to focus on important media issues and continue to make a critical investment in the people needed to transform the FCC into a twenty-first century agency for the information age.

The $4.5 million in funds are currently available and would not require additional appropriation or funding for this fiscal year. The $4.5 million in funds were originally obligated as follows: $274,000 from 2004; $582,000 from 2005; $1,460,000 from 2006; $1,330,000 from 2007; and $854,000 from 2008. Chairman Genachowski proposed spending: 1) $1 million to fund research to inform the quadrennial review of media ownership rules; and 2) $3.5 million to expand the FCC's workforce in order to implement the National Broadband Plan.