The Federal Communications Commission is poised to eliminate 98 outdated or redundant broadcast rules in what it describes as a major step toward modernizing its regulatory framework. In a document released ahead of its Aug. 7 meeting, the FCC is laying out which rules will be targeted in the Delete, Delete, Delete proceeding (GN Docket No. 25-133), many of which have been deemed irrelevant due to changes in technology and industry practices.
The targeted rules span analog-era requirements and duplicative policies that the FCC says no longer serve the public interest. Among those slated for repeal are instrumentation mandates for broadcast stations, authorization rules for stereo transmission, and outdated international broadcast terms. The Commission also proposes to scrap more than two-dozen rules that merely reference now-outdated policy statements or court decisions.
“These rules regulate obsolete technology, are no longer used in practice by the FCC or licensees, or are otherwise outdated or unnecessary,” says a fact sheet accompanying the proposed rule changes.
Among the most relevant for radio broadcasters are instrumentation and transmission-related rules. They include:
73.58 – Requires AM broadcast stations to be equipped with specified types of indicating instruments.73.258 – Similar mandate for FM stations.73.558 and § 73.597 – Extend these equipment requirements and stereo transmission authorization to noncommercial FM stations.73.297 – Covers authorization for commercial FM stereo broadcasts.
The FCC says these rules no longer reflect current practice or necessity. It says modern broadcast equipment and remote monitoring tools have rendered these technical instrumentation mandates obsolete.
Additionally, the FCC proposes to strike 73.1695, which governs proposals for changing transmission standards, and 73.1710, which specifies that a broadcast station may operate 24 hours per day. With 24/7 broadcasting now routine and transmission standard changes handled differently, these provisions are deemed outdated.
Notably, the FCC plans to eliminate the entire series of §§ 73.4000 to 73.4280, which contain reference-only citations to legacy policy statements on topics such as payola, plugola, political broadcasting, children’s television, and cigarette advertising. For example:
73.4180 lists public notices on payola and plugola, which are now addressed in 73.1212.73.4185 points to an outdated “Political Primer,” with current political broadcasting rules codified in 73.1940–73.1944.
Policies aren’t changing, but according to the FCC, these references are outdated, potentially confusing, and duplicative of existing rules found elsewhere in the Code of Federal Regulations.
Four additional rule sections are currently blank “reserved” provisions with no content and would also be removed.
The proceeding also reaches into regulations affecting international broadcasters, including the removal of several definitions from 73.701 (like “sunspot number” and “optimum working frequency”) and multiple paragraphs in 73.702 that describe frequency and zone coordination procedures that are no longer applied.
Comment Period Follows Vote
In total, the FCC is seeking to eliminate 43 full rule sections, 28 sub-paragraphs or definitions within larger rules, and 28 legacy reference rules when it votes next month. FCC Chair Brendan Carr has said it represents 5,117 words and a little over 12 pages of outdated regulations.
In an unusual step, the Commission is using a “direct final rule” process as part of the Aug. 7 vote. That means the changes will automatically take effect 60 days after publication in the Federal Register, unless significant adverse comments are filed within 10 days. If opposition is received for any specific rule, only that rule would be pulled for further review.
While most of the rules may be inconsequential to day-to-day broadcast operations today, it means the industry will have a narrow window to weigh in on whether any of the targeted rules still hold operational or legal value.