The Federal Communications Commission will vote next Thursday (Nov. 21) on a proposal that would finalize rules and procedures enabling FM and low power (LPFM) broadcasters to use FM booster signals to originate program content. In April, the Commission voted unanimously to approve a plan that allowed broadcasters, temporarily, to use boosters to originate “geo-targeted” programming for up to three minutes per hour. While that only allowed stations to use the technology for a one-year experimental authorization, next week’s full commission vote on a Second Report and Order and Order on Reconsideration would provide a road map for the temporary order to become permanent.
So far, the FCC has rejected warnings from the National Association of Broadcasters, and many radio groups that allowing GeoBroadcast Solutions’ ZoneCasting technology would result in interference and undermine radio’s business model.
Establish procedures for broadcasters to notify the Commission of program originating booster operation.
Establish procedures to predict and address potential interference for booster station applications prior to building.
Adopt a 25-booster station cap on the number of program originating boosters a single station may operate.
Create notification requirements so that other broadcasters and emergency alert participants will be aware of a booster’s program origination to protect the Emergency Alert System.
Update political advertising rules for program-originating boosters.
Adopt a public interest certification to serve as a regular reminder to use program origination equitably as an enhancement to reach listeners in a specific zone rather than to exclude those in another.
NAB and numerous broadcasters have staunchly opposed the proposal. When the FCC greenlit geo-targeted boosters on an experimental basis in April, it said in a statement that it was pleased the agency was only authorizing the “troubling technology” on an experimental basis so far. “The record clearly did not support full authorization, and we appreciate the Commission taking a measured step here,” the trade group said. “We look forward to working with the Commission to ensure that it upholds its commitment to the American people that it will not put in play technologies that negatively impact them or put them in harm’s way.”
In the 10 years since the proposal was first floated, geo-targeting has been greeted with both praise and criticism. The NAB and 49 state broadcast associations, along with several of radio’s largest groups, including Audacy, Beasley Media Group, Cumulus Media, iHeartMedia, Salem Media Group, and Urban One, have come out against deploying the technology, which has had limited real-world testing. Critics have said the technology may, in the long term, depress ad rates for radio at a time when the industry is already facing headwinds since advertisers will seek to replace market-wide commercials with less expensive advertisements targeting the most desirable areas. Midway Broadcasting, one of the minority-owned broadcast groups that oppose the technology, has said that it could result in “an industry-wide ‘race to the bottom’ for advertising revenues, which would disproportionately harm minority-owned and smaller stations.” In a December 2021 letter to the FCC, Midway CEO Melody Spann Cooper said advertisers would likely use the technology to “target areas with more affluent listeners, shifting not expanding” their radio ad budgets to inventory sold at lower rates, resulting in less revenue for all stations in the market. Stations with fewer resources would be “competitively pressured to match the lower geo-targeted spot rates even though they do not offer geo-targeting,” she said.
GBS Pushes For Waivers To 25-Booster Cap
On Nov. 8, lawyers for GeoBroadcast Solutions had meetings with advisors to Commissioners Brendan Carr, Nathan Simington and Geoffrey Stark, about the booster station rule revisions to be voted on next week. While they expressed support for the FCC’s “comprehensive draft,” GBS counsel also stressed the importance of “flexibility to allow local broadcasters to determine how program originating boosters may work best for them.” In an FCC filing summarizing the meeting, GBS encourages the FCC to consider waivers of the 25-booster cap “if the circumstances warrant a deviation from the general rule.” For example, in some of the largest markets with a relatively flat topography, a broadcaster may need to apply for more than 25 boosters if it were to deploy multiple zones, it says. GBS says a waiver process “offers a balanced approach that will enable FM stations deploying content originating booters to explore new opportunities to best serve their local communities.”
In the meeting, GBS lawyers also pushed the Commission to consider waivers to the limitation the restricts geo-targeted content and programming to three minutes per hour if a station can demonstrate “that the public interest in its own local community would be advanced by allowing stations to exceed the limit and that doing so would not create an unacceptable risk of interference to other broadcast stations.”
NAB Still Has Concerns
Since program-originating boosters were authorized by the FCC on an experimental basis in April, NAB has said it still is concerned the technology will cause interference for listeners and a redlining of advertising that will put smaller stations at a disadvantage. “Listeners should be able to access a clear FM radio signal regardless of their location within a station’s market, and regardless of a broadcaster’s decision to create zones of service using boosters, even if such a decision is voluntary,” NAB says. In comments filed with the FCC, the trade group says if interference is allowed it will not only harm the station “baited” into employing the technology, but also is likely to erode public confidence in FM radio overall.
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