‘No broadcaster has a right’ to spectrum, FCC warns industry in new notice

The Federal Communications Commission’s Media Bureau released a public notice reminding broadcasters of their public interest obligations and previewing the enforcement tools the agency may use against licensees it determines have failed to meet them.

The document, designated DA 26-530, was released just days after Commissioner Anna Gomez told reporters the commission appeared poised to act outside of a formal rulemaking process.

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The seven-page notice does not announce new rules.

It instead restates the public trustee doctrine in broadcast law, traces its statutory and judicial history to the Radio Act of 1927 and reminds broadcasters that license renewal, assignment and transfer applications all turn on a finding that the public interest has been served.

The notice arrives during a period in which the FCC has opened formal proceedings against multiple broadcast license holders. Its release without an accompanying vote by the full commission is the procedural decision Gomez objected to earlier in the day.

What the notice says

The document describes broadcasters as “temporary permittees—fiduciaries—of a great public resource,” quoting the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. It states that no broadcaster has a right to use public spectrum and that denial of a license on public interest grounds is not, under Supreme Court precedent, a denial of free speech.

The notice frames the public interest standard as the consideration broadcasters provided in exchange for free access to spectrum that the federal government has otherwise sold at auction. It cites the 2017 broadcast incentive auction, which yielded $19.8 billion in revenue, as a reference point for the value of the resource broadcasters receive without payment.

It also reminds broadcasters of existing obligations, including the requirement to maintain issues and programs lists in the online public inspection file, the prohibition on news distortion, the equal opportunities rule under Section 315, prohibitions on obscene, indecent and profane content, and the broadcast hoax rule. The notice states that broadcasters “must avoid conduct that undermines the public trust in the broadcast service,” and links to character qualifications precedent in a footnote.

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The closing paragraph states that the commission “will not hesitate to exercise its statutory authority to ensure that broadcasters either fulfill their public interest obligation or provide the privilege of being a broadcast licensee to someone that will fulfill that duty.”

Enforcement tools listed

The notice identifies four actions the commission may take when it determines a broadcaster has failed to serve the public interest: enforcement action under Section 503, conditional or short-term license renewal under Section 309(k)(2), a direction to file an early license renewal application under 47 CFR 73.3539(c), and designation of an application for hearing under Section 309(e).

Each of these tools has been invoked recently. The notice cites the Media Bureau’s April 27 order directing Bridge News LLC to file early for renewal, and the April 28 order directing The Walt Disney Co. and ABC to file all eight of their owned-station licenses for early renewal. It also cites the March 5 Legend Communications of Wyoming order, which addressed character qualifications, and a 2025 news distortion proceeding involving CBS station WCBS in New York.

Ownership and network affiliate relationships

The notice states that the commission “will continue to analyze ownership structures to ensure that they are responsive to the needs of their local communities and are providing them with diverse viewpoints reflective of the information needs of those communities.”

It references the November 2025 public notice in MB Docket No. 25-322, which examined dynamics between national programmers and their affiliates.

The text frames programming choices as subject to the public interest standard, stating that decisions “must be made in service of the public and be responsive to the needs of the local community they are licensed to serve, not the private interests of national networks.”

Prior to the release of the notice, Gomez told reporters the commission should take the question of the public interest standard through a formal rulemaking, with public comment and a full commission vote.

“When the government claims the authority to police whether broadcasters are serving the public interest, the American people deserve clear rules developed transparently and applied consistently,” Gomez said.

Gomez said a public notice issued at the bureau level would allow the commission to “selectively interpret and enforce standards” without the procedural protections that a rulemaking provides. The released document is signed at the bureau level and did not require a vote of the full commission.

Procedural context

Public notices of this type are typically used by the FCC to clarify existing law, summarize precedent or provide guidance on filing requirements. They do not, on their own, create new legal obligations. The notice does not initiate a docket, does not request comment and does not set a deadline for industry response.

The substantive question for broadcasters is how the document will be applied.

The notice does not identify specific programming, ownership configurations or business practices that would fail the public interest test. It instead reminds licensees that the standard applies broadly and that the bureau will evaluate it in the course of reviewing renewal, assignment and transfer applications.

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Several active proceedings will give the industry early indication of how the framework set out in the notice will be applied.

The Disney and ABC early renewal proceeding, the CBS news distortion docket, the diversity, equity and inclusion investigation into Comcast Corp. and the pending petition on “The View” each involve some element of the standards the notice describes.

The commission has not announced a timeline for resolution of any of those matters.