In a move that should surprise nobody, the Media Bureau has denied the NAB’s request that the effective date of the online public file rule (currently August 2, 2012) be stayed. This is not a particularly significant development, though, since the NAB, apparently expecting precisely this result, had already asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (where the NAB is appealing the new online public file requirements) to step in and stay the effective date. The Bureau’s denial of the stay request addressed to the Bureau does not affect the separate effort at the court to secure a stay.
The Bureau’s order does provide a preview of what the Commission is likely to be telling the court in response to the NAB’s stay request there. And on that subject, the D.C. Circuit has ordered the FCC to file its response by 4:00 p.m. on July 20; the NAB will have until July 24 to reply. As a result, the court will have slightly more than a week to review the pleadings and decide whether a stay is in order.
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