Today the FCC released a letter announcing that it would honor College Broadcasters Inc.‘s (CBI) request to allow more time for the public to file comments regarding the broadcast indecency policy proceeding. According to the July 12 public notice (PDF):
“On July 1, 2013, College Broadcasters, Inc. (CBI) filed a request to extend the deadline for filing reply comments by 15 days to August 2, 2013. To support its request for more time, CBI cited the substantial number of comments filed in the proceeding, the scope and complexity of the Notice, and its own limited budgets and staffing constraints during the summer portion of the academic year. By this Public Notice, we grant CBI’s request for additional time. We recognize the importance of affording all interested parties sufficient time to review the comments in the Docket and to prepare their reply comments.”
As we’ve reported previously, student radio advocates (including CBI) take issue with the current indecency policy and would like to see it reworked. They have expressed concern about the harsh penalties for inadvertent airing of fleeting expletives and about rules that allow for high fines to be applied to both commercial radio operations and small, low budget student radio stations.
Detailed information on all the ways that one can file comments with the FCC regarding the indecency proceeding can be found in the public notice. Comments can be filed electronically on the FCC website here. They should include reference to GN Docket No. 13-86.
