It’s been a surprisingly slow year so far in the FCC’s low-intensity war against unlicensed broadcasting.
After 2010’s decline in year-over-year enforcement actions, it would seem that field agents’ priorities are shifting.
Four people have been hit with a total of $75,000 in Notices of Apparent Liability (i.e., pre-fines) this year. However, three of those cases are carry-overs from 2010.
However, whereas field agents averaged some 35 enforcement actions per month last year against pirate broadcasters, there’ve been only 23 total actions for the first three months of 2011, affecting some dozen stations.
The Enforcement Bureau’s apparently more concerned now about CB–related radio interference, the unauthorized use of cell-phone jammers in businesses and schools, and the questionable operation of licensed FM radio stations than it is about unlicensed broadcasting.
There is no stated rationale for the apparent shift in enforcement activity; let’s hope it’s a trend.
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