Anticipated Government Shutdown Will Affect FCC

The anticipated government shutdown will affect the FCC.  While the FCC has not yet released its plans for the shutdown, we can expect most services to be shut down. Based on a prior internal agency plan drafted in 2023:

Generally, during such a shutdown all FCC activities will cease other than those immediately necessary for the protection of life or property, performing other excepted activities or those funded through a source other than lapsed appropriations.  Suspended activities include, among many others: Consumer complaint and inquiry phone lines cannot be answered; consumer protection and local competition enforcement must cease; licensing services, including broadcast, wireless, and wireline, must cease; management of radio spectrum and the creation of new opportunities for competitive technologies and services for the American public must be suspended; and equipment authorizations, including those bringing new electronic devices to American consumers, cannot be provided.

The shutdown will affect a number of FCC broadcast related activities, including filing issues quarterly programming lists, license transfers, EEO audits, etc. We will keep you informed as to the impact of the shutdown on all FCC activities.

You can see FCC Chairman Carr’s comments regarding the shutdown on CSPAN here.

You can access the FCC's Public Notice outlining the procedures during the 2025 shutdown here.