Washington, D.C.— The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced their commitment to substantially lower regulatory fees on broadcasters than previously proposed in its Fiscal Year 2022 Regulatory Fees Report and Order. The adjusted rates were announced less than a month after Congressman Tom Emmer (MN-06), co-founder and Chair of the Congressional Broadcasters Caucus, led a bipartisan effort to encourage the FCC to revisit its proposed FY22 fee increase. The fee reduction will help ensure Americans can always access trusted local news sources.

Emmer said, “Our broadcasters remain a free, trusted source of local news, emergency information, and community services for millions of Americans. The FCC must support this essential resource to our communities, not jeopardize it with burdensome regulatory fees.”

“We are grateful to the FCC for heeding our concerns and scaling back the rate increases, which would have proven devastating for our broadcasters,” Emmer concluded.

Specifically, the 2022 Regulatory Fees Report and Order reduced the fees on broadcasters from a proposed 13% to 7-8% on average. You can read the FCC’s report in full here.

Background:

Emmer has long been a champion of local broadcasters.

For the 2022 Fiscal Year, the FCC planned a rate increase of 13% for broadcasters, dwarfing the proposed rate increases for other FCC-regulated entities, some of which saw their rates decrease. The planned rate increase amounted to nearly the entire $7.95 million expansion of the FCC’s budget.

Unlike most other industries under the FCC’s purview, broadcasters are required to provide free services to the public and are not permitted to pass on increased costs to consumers.

In August, Emmer led a bipartisan letter to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel urging the agency not to go through with the proposed rate increases on broadcasters.

You can read the text of that letter in full here.

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