Opinion ID: 572398
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Change in Policy

Text: 16 As to Rainbow's assertion that the Policy constitutes an impermissible change in the Commission's interpretation of the Ashbacker policy, we note at the outset that the Commission possesses the authority to change its policies and interpretations of law, so long as it provides reasoned explanation. National Association for Better Broadcasting v. FCC, 849 F.2d 665, 669 (D.C.Cir.1988). It may not, of course, run afoul of definitive pronouncements of the Supreme Court as to the meaning of statutory provisions, but it has not done so in this case. The so-called Ashbacker doctrine arises from a decision in which the [292 U.S.App.D.C. 234] High Court required the FCC to hold hearings to compare competing applications for free channel space. The Court held that when the Commission received mutually exclusive applications for an open frequency from two or more qualified applicants, it must treat them equally; it cannot grant one application and require the others to compete against an incumbent. 326 U.S. at 330-33, 66 S.Ct. at 149-51. But the Ashbacker Court did not address the issue of what circumstances create an open frequency triggering the competition requirement. Particularly, the Court never said that the Commission must open a frequency for competing applications whenever it assigns that frequency to a community. 17 While the Commission has expressed the view that the public interest is best served by open competition for frequencies allotted to a community, see, e.g., San Francisco, Notice of Rulemaking, 67 F.C.C.2d at 243; Riverside-Santa Anna, 65 F.C.C.2d at 923-24; Cheyenne, 62 F.C.C.2d at 67-68, in the intraband exchange Policy, the Commission determined with reasoned explanation that this view does not apply in the context of channel exchanges. In adopting the Policy, the Commission expressed an awareness of the difficulties facing many noncommercial stations in financing the construction of improvements in operations, particularly in light of the reduction of federal funding for noncommercial broadcasting. The Commission expressed the belief that commercial stations seeking a channel exchange could be a source of funds for noncommercial stations, and recognized that in individual cases, channel exchanges could promote spectrum efficiency and provide improved service to the public. 59 Rad.Reg.2d (P & F) at 1457, 1461. 3 18 Agencies enjoy wide latitude when using rulemaking to change their own policies and the manner by which their policies are implemented. In FCC v. National Citizens Comm. for Broadcasting, for example, the Supreme Court held that the FCC properly departed from a previous pattern of licensing decisions. 436 U.S. 775, 796-97, 98 S.Ct. 2096, 2112-13, 56 L.Ed.2d 697 (1978). According agencies the power to change their minds about their own policies, practices and procedures rests on a sound policy basis. Agencies need some flexibility in carrying out their authority. This is particularly true of the FCC. Technological, commercial, and societal aspects of the television industry are in constant flux: 19 Underlying the whole [Communications Act] is recognition of the rapidly fluctuating factors characteristic of the evolution of broadcasting and of the corresponding requirement that the administrative process possess sufficient flexibility to adjust itself to these factors. 20 FCC v. Pottsville Broadcasting Co., 309 U.S. 134, 138, 60 S.Ct. 437, 439, 84 L.Ed. 656 (1940). The FCC defends the Policy as a response to the reduction of federal funding of educational programming. And Congress itself set the tone for the encouragement of alternative funding sources. See Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, Pub.L. No. 97-35, §§ 1230-33, 95 Stat. 357, 730-36 (1981); codified at 47 U.S.C. §§ 399A, 399B; HOUSE COMM. ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE, Public Broadcasting Amendments Act of 1981, H.R.Rep. No. 82, 97th Cong., 1st Sess. 7 (1981).