Hurricane Ian Pushes FCC Fee Deadlines

Hurricane Ian slammed into Florida September 28, 2022, with the National Hurricane Center saying the eye of the storm made landfall at 1905 GMT as high winds and heavy rain pounded the coast.
(Image credit: Ricardo Arduengo/AFP via Getty Images)

Given the catastrophic landfall of Hurricane Ian, the FCC has extended the filing deadline for all regulatory fees across the country from Sept. 28 to Sept. 30.

"Hurricane Ian may cause significant damage within its path, including storm surge, wind damage, and flooding," the FCC said Friday. By press time Wednesday afternoon it had definitely done that, hitting Florida as a category 4 storm.

The FCC also said some others were facing "technical challenges" in paying their fees.

The FCC funds its ongoing operations via annual regulatory fees charged to licensees including broadcast, cable and satellite. ■

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.