WASHINGTON: The Federal Communications Commission has extended the deadline for filling Form 323, the new biennial ownership report document. The form is now due Jan. 11, 2010. The initial deadline was Nov. 1; then it was pushed to Dec. 15 after the commission modified the forms.
The deadline was again extended because the FCC’s Media Bureau continues “final testing” of the form before it makes it available in its online database.
“To ease the transition to use of the revised form, the Bureau seeks to ensure sufficient time to complete the revised form once it is released for use,” the FCC said in a public notice. Therefore, in order to give filers adequate time to prepare and file the report, we are extending the filing deadline until Jan. 11, 2010. We encourage filers to file the form any time between the date of the release of the form and Jan. 11, 2010.”
The forms have been revised to reflect more detail on broadcast station ownership. Minority owners that once did not have to be listed now must be identified.
More on Form 323:
October 21, 2009: “FCC Provides Details on Ownership Reporting Rules”
Those rules were revised in May, requiring all commercial stations, including LPTVs and Class As, to file an FCC form 323 every other year. A subsequent challenge by the National Association of Broadcasters was turned down by the FCC.
June 1, 2009:“FCC Suspends Form 323 Requirements”
The broadcast ownership reporting requirements recently beefed up by the FCC won’t be due until November. The commission issued an order on Friday suspending the necessity for any interim filing.
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