The public-facing portion of the FCC’s online public inspection file system for broadcast TV stations apparently was unavailable for part of the day on Wednesday. Although the outage was fairly brief — we first saw the error below late in the morning, and we could access the system again by mid-afternoon — it is a
Continue Reading FCC Online Public Inspection File Suffers Outage
The Federal Communications Commission has announced the addition of several new features to its online public inspection file system for TV broadcasters. The new features allow stations to upload documents such as Annual EEO Public File Reports, lists of ownership-related contracts and agreements, and supplemental materials related to applications, authorizations, and EEO investigations.
The FCC’s rules require TV stations to maintain these documents in their public files, but when the online public file system launched on August 2, stations weren’t able to upload these documents. That is because several sections of the online public file system — including the Application, Authorization, Ownership and EEO pages of each station’s file — were designed so that they could only draw documents from the FCC’s electronic CDBS filing system. Previously, there was no way for stations to place any documents in these sections that were not filed through CDBS.
Continue Reading FCC Updates Online Public File System for TV Broadcasters
The Federal Communications Commission’s new online system for hosting television broadcasters’ public inspection files has now been live for two full weeks. The system officially launched August 2, which means stations are required to upload most categories of public file documents created from that day forward and to finish uploading most older public-file documents by February 2, 2013.
This does not include letters and e-mails from the public, which stations will not upload but instead will continue to make available at their main studios.
Most stations also do yet need to use the online political file. Only stations that are both (1) affiliated with ABC, CBS, NBC, or Fox, and (2) located in one of the top 50 DMAs were required to start using the online political file for documents created on or after August 2. Those stations will not have to upload any documents created before August 2, even if the documents relate to ads that run later. Instead, older political-file documents will remain available at the stations’ main studios. Stations that have switched to the online political file need to keep a backup copy of the political-file documents they have uploaded. (Stations are not required to keep backup copies of non-political documents that have been uploaded.)
Other stations may keep their political files in their existing format until July 1, 2014. Those stations are allowed to switch to the online political file earlier, but the FCC staff has requested that stations hold off on making such voluntary switches for the first few weeks of the system’s operation.
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Continue Reading TV Broadcaster Online Public Inspection File: Two Weeks In