Redtape and Bureaucracy Holding Up FCC Filings, Says County Administrator

Stephens County is moving ahead with its FCC petition to move satellite TV customers to metro Atlanta TV stations.

County Administrator Phyllis Ayers says she is working closely with Franklin County Manager Beth Thomas to gather the required paperwork.

“Beth Thomas has been leading the effort and then emails us to tell us what we need to and what we need to help her with,” Ayer said. “And that’s what we’ve been doing. And to date, Stephens County has done exactly what Franklin County has done and asked us to do.”

Last month, Thomas announced she has sent in the application and all of the paperwork requesting the change to the FCC for Franklin County.

FCC rules state that because Stephens, Franklin, Hart and Elbert counties are closer to Greenville, SC than to Atlanta, GA they are in the Greenville broadcast market and can only receive Greenville TV stations.

That also means they are considered “orphan counties” because their citizens with satellite service are not receiving Georgia local news, weather, and sports from their home state TV stations.

The process to get FCC approval is literally taken years.

Ayers said she has been working with Thomas since 2016, but says she and the other counties continue to encounter a lot of bureaucratic hurdles.

“I have an email from Beth Thomas that they sent another filing to the FCC and a huge box of paperwork, and that’s what I’ve been working on for Stephens County, but here’s the problem. They want everything filed electronically and Thomas said she has had problems getting it uploaded electronically, and I’m sure I’m going to have the same problem,” Ayers explained. “She (Thomas) just emailed me this morning saying she received a call Monday from the Secretary of the FCC saying that we could not submit by paper. So, it’s just been a series of hoops and every time we jump through one hoop there’s another hoop.”

Each county must file their own petition with the FCC and each county application must include four separate petitions for each of the four Atlanta TV network stations, WSB, WAGA, CBS46, and Georgia Public Broadcasting (PBS).

The process includes writing letters to the FCC and to the TV networks in the Atlanta market, taking surveys, and holding town hall meetings.

Once approved by the FCC, another public comment period must take place in each County before the Satellite companies can switch their customers to the metro Atlanta stations.

The FCC has not given any indication of when that decision would be made for any of the four counties.