FCC Delays 2017 Biennial Broadcast Ownership Reports
Broadcasters will have a few more months than normal this year to prepare and file their biennial ownership reports. On September 1, 2017, the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Media Bureau announced that the window to file ownership reports will not open until December 1, 2017, which was the previously scheduled deadline. Broadcasters will have until March 2, 2018 to complete their reports.
The delay is a result of the FCC’s migration of biennial ownership reporting from its Consolidated Public Database System (CDBS) to its Licensing and Management System (LMS). The Media Bureau explained that the extension “essentially implements NAB’s suggestion that we postpone the 2017 biennial filing window to ensure the successful implementation of the revised forms.”
You can review the OMB approved Form 323 here, and Form 323-E here. Once the revised forms are available online, the Media Bureau will update its Form 323 website with information about filing requirements here.
Also, for the first time this year, licensees of noncommercial educational broadcast stations (NCEs) and entities with attributable interest in NCEs will file their biennial ownership reports at the same time as licensees of commercial stations.
Although the filing of ownership reports will be delayed, as in prior years, the reports will include information about station ownership as of October 1, 2017.
