FCC Application Fees to Increase Starting May 23rd

In January, the FCC announced that it would be increasing its application fees.  The increase is set to reflect changes due to inflation.  The fees will increase by an average of 17.4 percent and go into effect on May 23rd.

The fee increase is not the annual fee paid by broadcasters.  Rather, it applies to applications such as license renewals, assignments and transfers of control requests of a special temporary authority, and biennial ownership reports.  The fee increases apply to non-broadcast applications as well.   At the time, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr stated that it would be burdensome on entities filing applications. However, a statute requires the FCC to increase fees to reflect inflation.

You can see the FCC’s Public Notice here.

You can see the FCC’s decision to increase fees here.

You can find a good discussion of the issue by noted communications attorney David Oxenford here.