NRB Wants FCC Action on NCE Fundraising, Telling Pai Aides It's Nonpartisan
A group of religious broadcasters wants the FCC to act after waiting "a number of years" on allowing noncommercial educational (NCE) stations to fundraise on-air for other nonprofits, calling it "nonpartisan" since then-Chairman Julius Genachowski started the proceeding. National Religious…
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Broadcasters said, based on concerns of public broadcasters "being put in an awkward position," the rule could apply only to NCEs that aren't CPB grantees. NRB Vice President-Government Relations Aaron Mercer, who reported Friday on lobbying earlier in the week aides to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, also noted his group sought to limit "the scope of third-party non-profits to 501(c)(3) organizations." Mercer disclosed in docket 12-106 a meeting with Pai Chief of Staff Matthew Berry, acting media adviser Alison Nemeth, and Nathan Leamer, recently hired as a policy aide to Pai (see 1703070019). In a recent meeting with Berry and Nemeth, NPR said rules restricting third-party fundraising by NCEs shouldn’t be relaxed (see 1703030063). The deregulation could encourage “the use of NCE broadcast stations as fundraising vehicles for independent third parties or other non-station interests rather than as sources of public interest programming,” the public radio programmer said.