Following a lawsuit filed by the National Association of Broadcasters, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated part of the FCC’s new foreign sponsorship rules that took effect in March.
The new rules had stated that stations disclose when foreign governments or their representatives lease time for new time brokerage agreements and within 6 months of Federal Register publication date for existing agreements. The disclosures were to be made on-air and within the station’s online public files. To do so stations had to ask sponsors whether it is a foreign governmental entity or an agent of one, whether anyone further back in the production or distribution chain is a foreign governmental entity or an agent of one, independently confirm the sponsor’s status, at both the time of the lease and the time of any renewal, by checking the Department of Justice’s Foreign Agents Registration Act website and the FCC’s U.S.-based foreign media outlets reports, and document those inquiries and investigations.
The NAB objected to the part requiring stations to independently confirm the sponsor’s status as federal law only authorizes the Commission to require stations to obtain sponsorship identification information from their own employees and from program sponsors, not from any other sources. The court confirmed that argument, eliminating that portion of the new ruling.
In a statement, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel wrote, “The principle that the public has a right to know the identity of those who solicit their support is a fundamental and long-standing tenet of broadcasting. It’s about transparency. Consumers deserve to trust that public airwaves aren’t being leased without their knowledge to private foreign actors.”
NAB President and CEO Curtis LeGeyt said, “NAB appreciates the court’s careful review of the important issues in this case. Today’s decision ensures that the rules rightly continue requiring the handful of stations airing foreign government-sponsored programming to identify it as such, but removes the burden on the overwhelming majority of stations that never air foreign government-sponsored content.”
The court order can be read here.
