Fcc station political files




















We will break down below distinct information required from the different types of ads, but certain requirements apply to any and all political ad time requests. For both political candidate ads and national issue ads, stations must document:.

For issue ads that do not address issues of national importance, stations must simply document the fact that the ads were aired and maintain a list of the chief executive officers or members of the executive committee or of the board of directors of the entity buying the time. Information about rate, class, and air times is not required. A request for time by a legally qualified candidate federal, state, or local or on behalf of that candidate by his or her authorized campaign committee, is a candidate ad.

Candidate ads must include the information above, plus:. In an October order resolving political file complaints against 11 licensees, the FCC clarified the scope of issue ad regulations and gave more guidance on what needs to be documented in station public files for those ads.

How do you know if the issue ad rules arising under BCRA are triggered when a request for time comes in the door? Ask whether the ad is about 1 a federal candidate, 2 a federal election, 3 an issue on which legislation is pending in front of Congress or 4 any other matter of national political controversy.

If the answer is yes to any or all of the above, the BCRA issue ad rules are applicable. For such issue ads, the station must document in the public file — in addition to the information above related to rates, class, and scheduling — the following:. Their ad copy describes the impeachment of President Trump, alleges corruption in the Senate, discusses economic inequality, and implores the listener to vote for Democrats on Super Tuesday.

The ad arguably also references the Senate and the Democratic Presidential primary, so both of those primary elections should be listed as well. Next, the documentation should list economic inequality as the issue of national political importance. Entities are not be required to place in the online public file existing political file material.

Cable systems with 1, or more subscribers but fewer than 5, subscribers will not be required to place new political file material in the Commission's online file until March 1, Cable systems with fewer than 1, subscribers are exempt from all online filing requirements.

In addition, until March 1, , all NCE radio broadcast stations, commercial radio broadcast stations in the top 50 Nielsen Audio markets with fewer than five full-time employees, and all commercial radio broadcast stations in markets below the top 50 or outside all markets are exempt from all requirements to place public file materials in the online public file.

As of March 1, , these radio entities must have placed all existing public file material in the online public file, with the exception of existing political file material, and must begin placing all new public and political file material in the online file on a going-forward basis.

Commercial broadcast licensees must continue to retain letters and emails from the public in the local public file and will not be permitted to upload those materials to the online public file. BPIF will no longer be available starting June 24, The first, Owner Sign In, allows the FRN holder to use their primary FRN and associated password to see their stations' facility ids and associated passcodes and to track the history of each station's Public Inspection File.

Entity will receive their passcode from the individual responsible for the organization's FRN. The Commission's security tools and safeguards, including passcodes, will prevent unauthorized access. Entities must upload any required public file document that has not already been filed with the Commission.

The Commission will upload to entities' online public files any required documents that have been filed with the Commission in other contexts such as broadcast station renewal, assignment and transfer applications and EEO reports filed by cable, DBS, and satellite television entities, filed in the Commission's Consolidated DataBase System CDBS , or children's television quarterly reports filed in LMS.

Entities that have fully transitioned to the online public file -- that is, entities that have uploaded all public file material to the FCC's online file database including all political file material required to be retained in the public file-- and that also provide online access to back-up political file material via the entity's own website when the FCC's online database is temporarily unavailable, will not be required to maintain a local public file.

This option is not available to commercial broadcast licensees who must continue to retain a correspondence file that cannot be made available online for privacy reasons. Entities are responsible for maintaining their online public file. If a document has been replaced or a contract has expired or the rules no longer require that a particular document be part of the public file, the entity will be responsible for taking appropriate action to reflect these changes.

The Commission has improved its online file database to permit entities to delete files and empty folders when documents in the file are past their retention period or the entity wishes to delete them for another reason.

Entities that are temporarily exempt from part or all online public file requirements may upload material to the online public file voluntarily before the delayed effective date of their online file requirement.

For example, an NCE broadcast radio station that is not required to commence using the online file until March 1, may voluntarily commence using the online file prior to this date. Entities may also elect voluntarily to upload to the online file existing political file material that would otherwise be required to be retained in the entity's local public file until the end of the two-year retention period.

To avoid any confusion regarding the location and completeness of the public and political file, any entity that voluntarily elects to commence using the online file early must ensure that the online file contains all new public file material on a going-forward basis, including all new political file material.

That is, all new public and political file material must be uploaded to the online file on a going-forward basis commencing on the date the entity elects to transition to the online file. In addition, entities choosing to transition to the online filing system early may not switch back and forth between systems local and online after their election is made.

Once an entity elects to use the online filing system, from that point forward it should upload all required public and political files on a going-forward basis in a timely manner and should continue to use the online system permanently.

Entities that have commenced using the online file database on a going-forward basis must indicate in their online file page that the file is available to the public. Entities may elect voluntarily to place their existing political files in the online file database. Section To the extent entities place this material in their political file, which is common industry practice and which satisfies the rule's disclosure requirement, they would be required to upload these files on the same schedule as their political files.

As noted elsewhere, television stations completed their transition to the online file in Commercial radio stations in the top 50 markets with five or more full-time employees must commence uploading all new public and political file material to the online file on June 24, All other radio stations are exempt from online file requirements until March 1, Cable systems with 1, or more but fewer than 5, subscribers must commence uploading political file material on March 1, Cable systems with fewer than 1, subscribers are exempt from political and online file requirements.

DBS and satellite radio entities also must place this information in their political files and, commencing June 24, , in their online political file. Yes, there are folders for all components of the public file.

The political file folder will contain subfolders for federal, state, and local candidates and for non-candidate issues. Entities are able to add subfolders for local candidates and for additional candidates if the need arises. As noted above, the Commission will populate the online public file with appropriately named folders, and to some extent sub-folders, but there is no requirement that individual files be named in any particular way.

Entities should note, however, that they are required to maintain an "orderly" file. Files and Folders can be deleted. Only the system folders cannot be deleted.

There is no requirement that a political time buyer's payment check be placed in the file. To the extent an entity does place a payment check in the file as a means of providing information required by the rules, it should be aware that this information could be provided in any other form that the station chooses. In any event, stations that do place checks in the online political file may want to consider redacting any customer account information before making the material available online.

Ordinarily this process is completed in about 10 minutes. In the event files are pending conversion up to 24 hours, please do not try to re-upload these files, as that will lead to further delays. If the files are still pending after 24 hours have elapsed, please feel free to try again or contact us at Yes, if an entity has a website, it must post a link to its Commission online public file on its own website's home page.

Entities must upload electronic documents in their existing or native format to the extent feasible. For example, if a required document already exists in a searchable format - such as the Microsoft Word. An entity may easily delete any document from its online public file so that it will no longer be viewable by members of the public accessing their file.

Entities can also fully purge a file from the system so that it no longer exists on the Commission's system, but this will require an Owner-based login. Entities do not have to maintain a backup of their entire online public file.

Because of its highly time-sensitive nature, however, entities are required to maintain an electronic backup of their political files and be able to make those files available to candidates and the public in the event the Commission's file system becomes unavailable. Entities may request a mirror copy of their public inspection file from the Commission's site.



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