Ownership Report Delay?

Several months ago, the FCC made the decision to have every broadcast station file biennial ownership reports on the same schedule – every two years by December 1^st. They also decided to migrate the ownership reporting forms to the License Management System, and tweak the form in other ways. We’ve been concerned for some time about the FCC’s ability to pull this off, especially with the new form and filing system. Our thinking was that the new form (or at least a beta version of it) would have to be available by now so that filers could start getting familiar with it.

With no such form available, and an “all silent” at the FCC regarding any progress on that effort, we were not surprised to see NAB file a request last week that the FCC push back the ownership report deadline, currently set for this December 1^st. We agree with such a delay, and remember well the train wreck a few years ago when the FCC rushed other ownership report changes and eventually had to extend the deadline twice. Let’s see if a little wisdom prevails this time around. If the FCC delays the deadline, we don’t think it will be significant (perhaps 2-4 months), but even some additional time will help.