The National Association of Broadcasters has intensified its opposition to the Federal Communications Commission’s proposed foreign sponsorship identification rules, arguing in a new filing that the regulations directly contradict key executive orders signed by President Trump earlier this year. The NAB has urged the Office of Management and Budget to intervene and either reject the rules outright or require major revisions.
The rules, approved in July 2024 by a 3–2 party-line vote under the Democrat-led FCC, would mandate that broadcasters verify and document whether every buyer of on-air time, including domestic entities like nonprofits or state agencies, has connections to a foreign government. The goal, according to the FCC, is to increase transparency and prevent foreign influence in American media.
But the NAB contends the scope of the rules is overly broad, legally questionable, and now in direct conflict with two Trump-era executive orders. Executive Order 14192 requires federal agencies to eliminate ten existing regulations for every new one they introduce and ensure that any new rules impose a net reduction in costs. Executive Order 14219 demands that agencies rescind rules lacking clear statutory authority or those that create unnecessary burdens on small businesses.
“The Commission’s expansion of its rules to require multi-step diligence involving thousands of non-candidate issue advertisements and paid public service announcements, with no evidence that any foreign governmental entity has even attempted to sponsor such advertising, cannot pass muster,” NAB wrote in its filing. The group argues that the FCC’s proposal would create costly and unnecessary burdens for broadcasters without addressing a real or demonstrated problem.
The NAB further criticized the FCC for requiring broadcasters to obtain signed certifications from all time buyers, even from domestic institutions like the U.S. Army or public school districts—entities with no plausible foreign ties. The group called this requirement “a regulatory morass” that does little to enhance national security but significantly increases compliance costs.
NAB also took issue with the data the FCC used to justify the proposal, asserting that the Commission underestimated the scale of the industry. The FCC’s data was based on time brokerage agreements, but NAB estimates that more than 200,000 lease agreements would be affected—far more than regulators assumed.
The NAB maintains that it supports transparency regarding foreign-sponsored content, but says the FCC’s current approach is legally flawed and overly burdensome, especially under the new deregulatory directives from the White House.