COMING Presently TO SCREENS ALL ACROSS THE COUNTRY!!!
YOUR Oct, 2012 ISSUES/PROGRAMS LIST!!!

If you lot're a full-power or Class A Telly licensee (for convenience, nosotros'll refer to that universe every bit "TV licensees" here), yous'd better get used to it: your quarterly bug/programs lists, once consigned to the comfortable privacy of your on-site local public inspection file, will presently be available for review anywhere, anytime, by anyone with an Net connectedness. If y'all're absolutely, positively 100% confident that your lists would pass muster if subjected to rigorous scrutiny, congratulations. You may not need to read further.

But if yous haven't actually thought too much about your lists for a couple of years and are concerned that they could utilize some spiffing upward before their online debut, read on. Our goal here is to provide some guidance about (a) the Committee's specific requirements relative to issues/programs lists and (b) how to get your next list uploaded to the FCC's online Idiot box public file organisation.

Important reminder: for Goggle box licensees, the next issues/programs list is required to be uploaded to the FCC'southward online public file arrangement no afterwards than Oct x, 2012.

What goes into an issues/programs list?

The specifics, such as they are, are prepare out in the Committee's local public inspection file rules (Section 73.3526 for commercial licensees, 73.3527 for noncomm's). Here's what the rules require Boob tube licensees to place in their public inspection files:

[E]very iii months a list of programs that accept provided the station's well-nigh meaning handling of community issues during the preceding iii calendar month menses. . . .The list shall include a cursory narrative describing what issues were given significant treatment and the programming that provided this treatment. The description of the programs shall include, simply shall not exist express to, the time, date, duration, and title of each programme in which the issue was treated.

Then your listing must include, at a minimum, a "brief narrative" describing (a) the "issues" to which the station gave "pregnant treatment" during the preceding quarter and (b) the programming that "provided this treatment". The description of the programming must include, at a minimum, certain nitty-gritty specifics about the broadcast of the programming – time, date, duration and title.

Note that, according to the rules, the issues/programs list need not include all of a station's issue-related programming, simply rather merely the "programs that have provided the station'southward almost pregnant treatment of community issues." What does any of that mean – "significant handling", "community problems", "programs"? That's generally your phone call to make equally licensee, but exist prepared to be second-guessed by critics who may have other ideas about what you coulda/woulda/shoulda been doing.

While the rule refers to "programs", it does not prohibit inclusion of PSA's which, in the eyes of some, may not amount to total-fledged "programs". If a station has devoted a considerable number of PSA's to 1 or more "community issues", information technology would probably exist well-advised to include reference to those PSA's in the listing. Historically, the Committee has suggested that a station may non rely solely on PSA's to meet its supposed obligation to address local issues, but that doesn't mean that a licensee with a substantial PSA endeavour cannot and should non merits credit for that effort.

Along the aforementioned lines, the term "programs" would not necessarily bar you from relying on news coverage of detail issues, including election campaign coverage.

The rules exercise not mandate any particular format for the presentation of these data. You can employ lists or narratives or collections of documents or whatsoever other mechanism you similar, every bit long equally the terminate upshot contains the specified information. How long should the list be? That, also, is your call – but carry in mind that the list is supposed to reverberate the programming through which the station devoted the "most significant treatment" to community issues. The shorter the list, the easier it will exist for critics to suggest that the station hasn't really been serious most "treating" customs issues, whatever that ways.

Once you have your list compiled, what do you do with it?

Commencement, you will need to have the list in some digital format. If you just type it up using Microsoft Word, you'd have it in as a .DOC certificate. If your list includes copies of programming records prepared in the course of production and broadcast, those might need to be scanned into .PDF documents, or possibly assembled into a single .PDF detail. Some licensees may adopt using an Excel spreadsheet (i.eastward., .XLS) approach. The FCC'south system is supposedly designed to take documents in any of the post-obit file formats: .Dr., .DOCX, .HTM, .HTML, .PDF, .PPT, .PPTX, .RTF, .TXT, .XLS or .XLSX. Whatsoever format you use, make sure that y'all tin locate the component file(s) on your local computer bulldoze(s) easily.

According to the FAQ page at the FCC'south online public file site,

[south]tations must upload electronic documents in their existing or native format to the extent viable. For example, if a required document already exists in a searchable format – such as the Microsoft Word .doc format or a not-copy protected text-searchable .pdf format for text filings, or native formats such as spreadsheets in Microsoft .xml format for not-text filings – broadcasters are expected to upload the filing in that format unless it is technically unable to practise then.

It's difficult to tell exactly what that ways, and information technology's as well hard to say that the FCC is in a position to enforce whatsoever it might mean – since the regulatory impact of an FAQ presumably lacks at to the lowest degree some to the clout of, like, an actual rule. Even so, it appears that the Commission expects uploaded documents to be "in a searchable format".

Note that the FCC has non mandated any detail file-naming convention. However, information technology's always adept to proper noun your files in a way that allows the reader to figure out easily what's in the file. (For example: [Phone call SIGN].Issues-Programs List.[Quarter].[Yr] should do the flim-flam.)

One time you've got the list ready to upload, access the station's online public records file. (If you're still a bit sketchy on that process, check out our post here.) When you have successfully logged in, y'all'll come across a screen that looks like this:

In the menu options running downwards the left-side of the screen, click on "Issues/Programs Lists". (We've helpfully highlighted information technology in red in the graphic to a higher place.) That should accept y'all to a screen that looks like this:

Click on the ruby-red/orange-ish "Upload Documents" button in the middle of the screen. That should take yous to this screen:

Click on the green button labeled "+ Add together files . . ." in the middle of the screen. The organization volition then allow y'all to browse through your local computer drives to locate the file(s) that volition comprise your quarterly issues/programs list. Once you have located those files in your local drives, you can simply drag and driblet them into the page on the FCC website.

We understand that the FCC's system will then have a couple of minutes to process your upload. Exactly what that processing entails is not entirely articulate, but don't exist surprised if the uploaded file does not instantaneously show upwards in your online public file. Still, it would exist prudent to check dorsum in on your station's file – from either the public or non-public side – inside a couple of hours to confirm that the upload was completed and that the file(due south) y'all meant to upload did in fact get successfully uploaded.

Good luck.

A couple of miscellaneous observations.

This is the starting time borderline that requires ALL Television receiver licensees to upload a detail item by a particular engagement. There will be others down the line, just this is the commencement time that the Commission's online public system will be tested with an industry-broad in-rush of uploads. Because of that, some hiccups in the system may occur. Be patient.

Also, annotation that, on the FCC'south online public file homepage, there is a constantly updated list of materials that have been uploaded to the system. When at that place is lots of upload action going on, any particular station's upload will likely appear on that list for just a couple of minutes. When activity is lower, uploads may remain on the list for a couple of days. Our guess is that, on October 10, the amount of time any station's upload will stay visible on the FCC's online list will be minimal, if that makes a departure to you.

Finally, let'due south non lose sight of the oddity of the issues/programs list. While the rules do indeed require the quarterly preparation of those lists, the rules practice not require that stations in fact air programs that "treat", significantly or otherwise, "community issues". While the Commission has historically asserted that some such obligation exists, in fact you will look long and hard – and unsuccessfully – to find whatever such requirement in the Committee's rules or in the Communications Act. (Indeed, a strong argument can exist made that the Commission could not in whatever event impose such a programming requirement.)

In this context, the issues/programs list may be seen every bit a regrettable effort by the Commission to indirectly regulate that which it does not – and arguably cannot – regulate directly, i.east., broadcast program content. Of course, the vast majority of broadcasters do provide plenty of important and useful programming devoted to local, regional and national bug, even though they are not technically required to do. And as long as they're doing that, stations should be sure to use their issues/programs lists to highlight their efforts.