WASHINGTON—The FCC has acquiesced to requests from the NAB and NCTA-The Internet & Television Association to shift the comment deadlines for the proposed rules for live closed captioning by a month. The deadlines, which were previously set for Sept. 13 and Spet. 30, are now set for Oct. 15 for comments and Oct. 30 for reply comments.

NAB and NCTA filed a motion to extend the deadline on Aug. 26 because of a conference that is scheduled for Oct. 2 between the associations and the deaf and hard of hearing community, arguing the extension would allow them “to prepare comments that reflect closed captioning quality discussions” during the conference.

The FCC found that the NAB and NCTA showed good cause for the extension that would serve the public interest.

WASHINGTON—Following the commission’s vote to give broadcasters greater flexibility to meet KidVid requirements, the FCC also issued a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that deals with educational and information programming, and has now announced its comment deadlines.

The FNPRM states that the FCC is “seeking additional comment on the creation of a framework under which television broadcast stations could satisfy their children’s programming obligations, by relying, in part, on special efforts to produce or support children’s educational and informational programming on other stations in their markets.”

In the previous NPRM, broadcasters seemed to be in favor of such a regulation. The NAB told the FCC in comments it filed that TV stations that share a market should have the option to put their kid programming on channels suitable for a younger audience, and for an owner of two stations in a market to air most or all of its E/I programming on one of them.

Comments on the FNPRM will be Sept. 16. Reply comments will be due by Oct. 15.

WASHINGTON—Those interested in submitting comments in regards to the FCC’s 2018 Quadrennial Regulatory Review Notice of Proposed Rulemaking released this past December now know their deadlines.

The FCC’s Media Bureau has announced the comment deadline for this NPRM has been set for April 29, while the reply comment deadline is May 29.

As it is required every four years, mandated by Congress, the FCC takes a look at its broadcast ownership rules to see if they “remain necessary in the public interest as the result of competition,” or if they can be modified or eliminated due to marketplace changes. The rules up for review deal with local radio ownership limits, local TV ownership limits and the dual-network rule that prevents a single company from owning two of the major broadcast networks. The review asks whether these rules should remain, be modified or eliminated.

The FCC also has three proposals, in relation to a court requirement, that look at diversity in the review of its regulations that are open for comments. These proposals are on whether to extend the cable procurement EEO regs to broadcast, whether to identify a “tipping point” of source diversity in lieu of ownership rules and one on tradable diversity credits.

The 2018 Quadrennial Review NPRM is available on the FCC’s website.