FY 2016 FCC Regulatory Fees Released – With a Reminder to Incentive Auction Participants

Right as everyone was set to enjoy the last glimmer of summer over the long weekend, the FCC issued its Report and Order on the regulatory fees for 2016.  The FCC adopted all the fees for broadcast stations as proposed in its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (about which we wrote about here) with some adjustments to the regulatory fees on radio and television broadcasters, based on type and class of service and on the population served.  No date has yet been set, though, for when these fees will be die this month.

The fees for all categories of broadcasters are as follows:

FY 2016 RADIO STATION REGULATORY FEES Population

Served

AM Class A AM Class B AM Class C AM Class D FM Classes

A, B1 & C3

FM Classes

B, C, C0, C1 & C2

<=25,000 $990 $715 $620 $685 $1,075 $1,250 25,001 – 75,000 $1,475 $1,075 $925 $1,025 $1,625 $1,850 75,001 – 150,000 $2,200 $1,600 $1,375 $1,525 $2,400 $2,750 150,001 – 500,000 $3,300 $2,375 $2,075 $2,275 $3,600 $4,125 500,001 – 1,200,000 $5,500 $3,975 $3,450 $3,800 $6,000 $6,875 1,200,001 – 3,000,00 $8,250 $5,950 $5,175 $5,700 $9,000 $10,300 3,000,001 – 6,000,00 $11,000 $7,950 $6,900 $7,600 $12,000 $13,750 >6,000,000 $13,750 $9,950 $8,625 $9,500 $15,000 $17,175

 

Fee Category

 

Annual Regulatory Fee

(U.S. $s)

AM Radio Construction Permits 620 FM Radio Construction Permits 1,075 Digital TV (47 CFR part 73) VHF and UHF Commercial               Markets 1-10 60,675               Markets 11-25 45,675               Markets 26-50 30,525               Markets 51-100 15,200               Remaining Markets 5,000               Construction Permits 5,000 Satellite Television Stations  (All Markets) 1,750 Low Power TV, Class A TV, TV/FM Translators & Boosters (47 CFR part 74) 455

The Commission noted that, with the Incentive Auction underway, all broadcast television licensees must still pay FY 2016 regulatory fees if they held a license or construction permit as of October 1, 2015, as well as for payment of FY 2017 regulatory fees if they continue to hold their license or construction permit as of October 1, 2016.  It cautioned licensees to pay their regulatory fees in order to avoid delay of payments resulting from the Incentive Auction.

The FCC will release a Public Notice setting the filing deadline.  We expect it to come out any day.  As the fees need to be paid before the start of the FCC’s new fiscal year on October 1, expect that those fees will be due at some point before the end of September.