In exchange for obtaining a valuable license to operate a broadcast station using the public airwaves, each radio and television licensee is required by law to operate its station in the “public interest, convenience and necessity.” This means that it must air programming that is responsive to the needs and problems of its local community of license. In addition, how other media facilitate community discussions.
Localism
Understanding the FCC’s Proposed Small Cell Order
On September 5, the Federal Communications Commission released the text of an order in its ongoing proceeding to streamline the rollout of infrastructure for broadband services, including small cells for 5G wireless service. The order is expected to be adopted at the FCC’s September 26th meeting. The order is a blatant effort by the FCC to strengthen the hand of carriers in negotiations with local governments over small cell deployment and to limit the ability of local governments to negotiate in the public interest around small cells.
The Federal Communications Commission has a key role in the United States’ transition to fifth-generation (5G) wireless technologies and infrastructure. New technologies and devices connecting to the internet as part of the Internet of Things will radically increase the amount of traffic on the network, and important applications such as self-driving cars and health applications will rely on 5G to function.
Local Officials Mull Suing the FCC
National organizations representing municipalities are rebelling against Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr’s plan to streamline the deployment of the 5G wireless infrastructure known as small cells. The proposal, set for a Sept. 26 vote, would preempt local government authority, a measure of run-around that wireless giants like AT&T and Verizon say may be necessary for 5G deployment given delays they face at the local level.
FCC Announces Tentative Agenda for September 2018 Open Meeting
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that the following items are tentatively on the agenda for the September Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Wednesday, September 26, 2018:
You may be surprised to learn that newspaper audiences are larger today than ever due to myriad platforms on which news is published – print, websites, online newsletters, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, video and more. What would you do as an editor for a day? What would your coverage and story assignments be? What would you publish in print, online and in social media? What would your front page look like? An engaging interactive event with live video and a press run.
Small town newspapers, challenged by evaporating advertising revenues, mergers and declining circulation, struggle to sustain themselves. What can be done to keep local journalism strong, relevant, necessary and avoid news deserts?
Speakers: Al Cross, director Institute for Rural Journalism, University of Kentucky
Panel discussion: Mark Guerringue, publisher The Daily Sun, Conway, NH; Keith Gentili, Editor and Publisher, The New Boston Beacon; Paul Miller, executive editor, The Keene Sentinel
FCC Diversity Committee Has Big Issue with FCC Incubator Program
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.
The local TV consolidation race is here
Changes in decades-old broadcasting rules, combined with new types of competition in news and entertainment, are creating a drama-filled free-for-all as local US broadcasters consolidate. Consolidation will inevitably mean that fewer voices reach more people, but some in the industry argue it's the only way local broadcasting will be able to compete with big tech. Of all TV news products, local television still has the largest audience by far compared to national and cable. But it's also been hit with the greatest decline among the three types of traditional TV.
When local papers stop being local
At the DeWitt Wallace Center’s News Measures Research Project, we set out to document the extent to which communities have access to robust local journalism and determine whether certain types of communities are more at risk than others. We studied 100 US communities and found:
AT&T Suggests FCC Clarify Types of Municipal Regulations, Fees That Prohibit Small Cell Deployment
In its recent Declaratory Ruling, the Federal Communications Commission declared that, with rare exceptions, moratoria on the acceptance, processing, or approval of applications or permits for telecommunications services or facilities violate Section 253 of the Communications Act. AT&T urges the FCC to further use its authority to interpret Sections 253 and 332(c)(7) to clarify the types of municipal regulations that “have the effect of prohibiting” the provision of wireless service, primarily as they affect small cell deployments.