FCC Announces Tentative Agenda For March Open Meeting

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler announced that the following items will be on the tentative agenda for the next open meeting scheduled for Monday, March 31, 2014:

• Amendment of the Commission’s Rules Related to Retransmission Consent: The Commission will consider an Order making certain rule revisions and clarifications to facilitate the fair and effective completion of retransmission consent negotiations, and a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking commen on whether to eliminate the network non-duplication and syndicated exclusivity rules.
• Broadcast Ownership Rules Quadrennial Regulatory Review: The Commission will consider a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that initiates the 2014 Quadrennial Review of broadcast ownership rules, addresses issues referred to the Commission by the Third Circuit’s remand of the 2008 Diversity Order, and a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to define and require the disclosure of a category of sharing agreements between broadcast television stations. The accompanying Report and Order determines that certain television joint sales agreements are attributable.
• Increasing Utility of Unlicensed Spectrum in the 5 GHz Band: The Commission will consider a First Report and Order that would revise rules to make 100 megahertz of 5 GHz UNII-1 band unlicensed spectrum more useful for consumers and businesses, and reduce the potential for harmful interference to certain incumbent operations.
• Meeting the Nation’s Demand for Licensed Spectrum: The Commission will consider a Report and Order that would adopt allocation, licensing, service, and technical rules to make available for auction 65 megahertz of AWS-3 spectrum for flexible use services, including mobile broadband.