WASHINGTON — January 30, 2012 — The Association of Public Television Stations (APTS), Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in the matter of standardizing program reporting requirements for broadcast licensees. The comments urge the FCC to recognize in any new programming disclosure rules a safe harbor for CPB-qualified noncommercial educational television licensees that electronically submit to the Commission relevant portions of their annual Station Activities Benchmarking Study and Station Activity Survey.
“We support the Commission’s effort to standardize information about their public interest programming and activities,” said Lonna Thompson, Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel for APTS. “However, we strongly encourage the Commission to exempt public television licensees from burdensome reporting requirements given public television licensees’ demonstrated success in delivering upon their mission to provide programming that addresses the needs and interests of their local communities.”
The comments filed by APTS, CPB and PBS focus on developing an alternative approach to these practical reporting obligations. To read the full comments, click here.
About APTS
The Association of Public Television Stations (APTS) is a nonprofit membership organization established in 1979. The mission of APTS is to conduct – in concert with member stations – advocacy, planning, research and communications activities in order to achieve strong and financially sound noncommercial television and advanced digital services for the American people. APTS provides consistent leadership and information that helps our members better accomplish their own missions and goals. Through its affiliate APTS Action, APTS promotes the legislative and regulatory interests of noncommercial television stations at the national level through direct advocacy, and grasstops and grassroots campaigns designed to garner congressional support. For more information, visit www.apts.org.
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