On July 5th, the CBA filed Joint Comments, for the second year in a row, urging the FCC to modernize its methodology for setting annual regulatory fees to comply with the RAY BAUM’S Act of 2018.
The FCC has inexplicably proposed placing the burden of almost the entire amount of their increase solely on the shoulders of broadcasters. As a result, despite the FCC’s budget increasing only 2.13% over 2021, the FCC has proposed a 13% increase in the total regulatory fees to be paid by broadcasters for FY2022.
The FCC failed to provide any explanation for this proposed increase, though it appears to result from burdening broadcasters with a portion of the FCC’s costs in 2022 of implementing the Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technology Availability Act (“Broadband Data Act”).