
FCC demonstrates online TV station public file system
posted on 7.17.2012The FCC demonstrated a new online interface Tuesday that television stations will use to file documents to be placed in a station’s online public file in the FCC’s database.
The Tuesday session was archived online for stations to view.
The demonstration was intended to show broadcasters what the database will look like and how stations will upload information to the site.
The database was developed in connection with the FCC’s recent order requiring television stations to post their public inspection files online in a central, FCC-hosted database.
The online TV public file rule goes into effect Aug. 2, 2012.
As noted elsewhere in the Bulletin, the FCC denied the NAB’s request for a stay of the rule requiring online posting of the public file.
The NAB has now asked for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to stay the rule.
Since there is no guarantee of what and when the court may decide, television stations should prepare for the online posting requirement by reviewing this week’s online presentation using the link above.
So what’s been the reaction to the new system?
Initial reviews were cautiously positive.
Attorneys with TAB Associate Member law firm Fletcher Heald and Hildreth said they were “favorably impressed” by the demonstration.
Peter Tannenwald, who attended Tuesday’s online presentation in person, said “as cumbersome as some of the FCC’s online systems have been and still are, this one seems reasonably approachable and usable by people who don’t live and breathe FCC air every day.”
Tannenwald described the online interfaces as “pretty intuitive, both for stations that upload and for people who want to look up any item on the laundry list of materials required to kept in the public file.”
He went on to say that if one “can master the system for filing Children’s Television Reports, the public file upload should be a breeze.”
Click here to read Tannenwald’s complete review of the FCC’s demonstration of its new system.
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