It is nearly one year since Hurricane Irma, and then Hurricane Maria, wreaked havoc and widespread devastation across Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Many broadcast facilities have not been rebuilt; operations have not resumed.
The Media Bureau of the FCC is aware of this, and is providing guidance to stations in the U.S. Caribbean territories concerning the procedures to follow to alleviate concerns about license expiration. This includes a bit more time to get their stations up and running again.
Indeed, the FCC could delete the license and call letters of station off the air for more than a year, under Section 312(g) of the Communications Act of 1934.
But, it seeks to avoid that and needs broadcasters’ help in avoiding such an unfortunate situation.
The Act allows the Commission to extend or reinstate a terminated license if, in the Commission’s judgment, such action would promote “equity and fairness.” It has
exercised this statutory discretion only when the failure to timely resume broadcasts was for a compelling reason beyond the licensee’s control.
“We believe that the catastrophic nature of these events and the ongoing recovery in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands warrants consideration of ‘equity and fairness’ for those licensees that have been unable to resume station operations because of the damage caused by the hurricanes and the unusual extended recovery period, exacerbated by the difficulty in restoring electrical service to the islands,” the Media Bureau notes.
As such, the Media Bureau will withhold cancelling broadcast licenses in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands — St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix — for a period of six months, stretching from September 6, 2018 through March 6, 2019.
In order to receive the benefit of such consideration, licensees of all stations that are currently silent as a result of the damage caused by Hurricanes Irma and Maria and do not anticipate resuming operations by the end of their 12th month of silence must file a request for Special Temporary Authority prior to the end of this period to remain silent.
This Silent STA Request should delineate the specific factors preventing the station’s resumption of broadcast operations prior to the one-year mark, and provide a projected date prior to March 6, 2019 that it intends to resume operation.
The Silent STA Request should be filed with the Commission through CDBS or LMS.8, the Media Bureau notes.
It’s essential that broadcasters do this: The FCC won’t entertain requests to extend or reinstate an expired license from licensees that have not filed a Silent STA Request prior to the end of their 12 full months of silence.
