FCC warns US broadcasters their licenses are a privilege, not a right

The FCC issued a public notice reminding broadcasters of public interest obligations tied to federal licensing. Federal law requires broadcasters to operate in the public interest, and licenses depend on meeting that duty. Broadcast frequencies are limited, so the government selects which organizations receive spectrum licenses. The FCC states that no broadcaster has a right to use public spectrum and that broadcasting requires a federal license due to the technical nature of the public resource. The notice contrasts broadcast spectrum with other media that do not carry FCC obligations to serve specific community needs. It also reiterates prohibitions on news distortion, requirements for equal opportunity to political candidates, bans on obscene or indecent content, and restrictions on hoaxes.

"The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) document, published May 28, points out that federal law requires broadcasters to operate in the public interest, and that it has been charged with ensuring they only get to hold a license to broadcast so long as they meet that obligation. It also points out that available broadcast frequencies are a finite resource, so there are inevitably more would-be broadcasters than available spectrum licenses, and it falls to the government to pick the winners and losers when it comes to which organizations get one."

""No broadcaster has a 'right' to use the pubic [sic] spectrum," it states. In fact, the document goes to great lengths to point out that broadcast spectrum is different from other media, such as newspapers or the internet, where there is no FCC obligation to identify and serve the needs of any particular community. Unlike essentially all other forms of distribution, "no one can broadcast without a license from the federal government due to the unique technical aspects of the public resource that they operate on.""

"Broadcasters are prohibited from engaging in news distortion, the FCC says, which is pretty much uncontroversial, as is the requirement to provide equal opportunity to political candidates. They are also prohibited from airing obscene, indecent, and profane content, or broadcasting hoaxes, it says. But on the latter point, President Trump has labeled as a hoax any suggestion that the Russian government tried to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, for example."

Read at theregister