Like an all-you-can-eat buffet, the biggest challenge for FCC Chair Brendan Carr\u2019s effort to take a chainsaw to federal regulations is knowing where to begin. When the Federal Communications Commission meets next month, Carr will put the first broadcast items on the Delete, Delete, Delete proceeding\u2019s plate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will vote to eliminate 98 obsolete broadcast rules and requirements, totaling 5,117 words and a little over 12 pages, like 1970s-era regulations dictating the kind of testing equipment radio stations are required to purchase,\u201d Carr said Wednesday. Specifics of which rules will come under scrutiny have not yet been released, but Carr has said in the past that nothing is off the table in the proceeding (GN Docket No. 25-133<\/a>), which launched in March<\/a>. The proposal says the Commission wants to do away with any rules or policies that have prevented businesses from investing in modernizing their technology.<\/p>\n There has been no shortage of suggestions from broadcasters in the months since the review began. Many focus on scaling back filing requirements, public file mandates, as well as outdated technical rules. The National Association of Broadcasters told the FCC that radio and TV stations are \u201cburied under pages after pages of rules\u201d in the Code of Federal Regulations, and that many are, \u201ca ripe source for serious review and deletion.\u201d<\/p>\n In comments filed in the FCC<\/a>, multiple broadcasters emphasized that many current broadcast regulations were crafted for a dramatically different marketplace and now impose significant costs without delivering meaningful public benefits. They argue these rules only serve to hamstring local broadcasters while reinforcing the market dominance of Big Tech platforms that operate with far fewer regulatory burdens.<\/p>\n Reforms Planned For EAS, DIRS<\/p>\n In the wake of the Texas flooding tragedy<\/a>, Carr is also planning to launch a \u201cground-up re-examination\u201d of the Emergency Alert System (EAS).<\/p>\n \u201cEAS sends life-saving information using TV and radio outlets, and our Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) distribute the emergency notices we receive on our mobile phones,\u201d he says. \u201cWith underlying frameworks that are 31 and 13 years old respectively, we think it\u2019s time to explore if structural changes to these systems are needed, with an eye towards making sure we are leveraging the latest technology to save lives.\u201d<\/p>\n As part of the August meeting\u2019s public safety focus, Carr also plans to launch a review of the FCC\u2019s system for collecting real-time data on network outages and restoration during and after major disasters. Since its inception in 2007, he says the Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) has proven to be a valuable tool for collecting actionable information to help with recovery efforts. But Carr thinks there may be a better way forward.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile the DIRS reports are valuable, they can be time-consuming to produce, drawing resources away from responding to an ongoing disaster. The Commission will vote on reforms to streamline DIRS to make sure that its benefits outweigh its burdens,\u201d he writes in a blog post<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Commission\u2019s meeting is set for Aug. 7. The more robust agenda than normal for late-summer is an indication that Carr is looking to take advantage of his newly achieved Republican majority, with the addition of Commissioner Olivia Trusty<\/a> last month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Like an all-you-can-eat buffet, the biggest challenge for FCC Chair Brendan Carr\u2019s effort to take a chainsaw to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,3872,341,44],"class_list":["post-2913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-free","tag-music","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}