Changes Affect Foreign Ownership

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FCCThe FCC has reorganized the International Bureau.


It’s no secret with commission is operating with a smaller staff and less funding these days and, like the rest of the federal government and most businesses today, needs to “do more with less.”

The bureau believes re-jiggering certain functions will create efficiencies and enable new analyses of international telecom trends.

International Bureau Chief Mindel De La Torre says the reorg elevates and expands the bureau’s economic analysis and improves its international coordination role.

Of interest to broadcasters, international spectrum rulemaking functions are transferred from the Policy Division to the Satellite Division.

Foreign ownership review and licensing of international section 214 authorizations is still under the purview of the Telecommunications and Analysis Division, which now gains responsibility for economic analysis and reports.

The Strategic Analysis and Negotiations Division is now named the Global Strategy and Negotiation Division and continues handling cross-border negotiations, for example.

The Cross-Border Negotiations and Treaty Compliance Branch and the International Radiocommunication Branch remain the same. The new Global Strategy and Negotiation Division merges the Regional and Bilateral Affairs Branch and Multilateral Negotiations and Industry Analysis Branch into a combined branch called the Multilateral and Regional Affairs Branch.