WASHINGTON – In a move causing alarm among religious broadcasters, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issue expanded guidelines on programming requirements of applicants for noncommercial educational television licenses.
In a December order concerning the transfer of licenses among stations in the Pittsburgh area, the commission determined that “not all programming, including programming about religious matters, qualifies as ‘general educational’ programming.”
The National Religious Broadcasters has sent an “urgent memorandum” to its members saying the order “singles out religious programming for special scrutiny.”
The order, approved Dec. 15 and released Dec. 29, approves the transfer of a license of noncommercial educational television station WZEX in Pittsburgh from WQED in Pittsburgh to Cornerstone Tele-Vision, a prominent Pennsylvania-based Christian network. In turn, it also assigned the license of WPCB-TV in Greenburg, Pa., from Cornerstone to a subsidiary of Paxson Communications.
In its lengthy opinion and order, the FCC says it is offering guidance regarding programming as it is faced with “the difficult balance” between maintaining the educational nature of programming and the First Amendment rights of broadcasters.
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