STATEMENT OF
CHAIRMAN AJIT PAI
Re: Amendment of Parts 74, 76 and 78 of the Commission’s Rules Regarding Maintenance of Copies 
of FCC Rules, MB Docket No. 17-231; Modernization of Media Regulation Initiative, MB 
Docket No. 17-105.
Today’s Notice is the first outgrowth of the Modernization of Media Regulation Initiative the 
FCC launched in May.  It will be far from the last.  The strong public input we received highlighted 
numerous media regulations that are outdated or unnecessary.  So going forward, the Commission will 
issue at least one Notice each month proposing to modify or eliminate these rules.  
We start here with rules that many were surprised to learn are still on the books—literally.
Today, many of us have swapped traditional paperback books for Kindles, mixtapes for streaming 
services, and thick Sunday morning newspapers for their online equivalents.  In doing so, we realize daily
the benefits and efficiencies new technologies can provide.  
The FCC should enable those it regulates to do the same by keeping its rules up to date to reflect
the times.  This Notice proposes to do just that.  We seek to eliminate rules implemented more than 40 
years ago that require certain broadcast and cable entities to maintain hard copies of portions of the FCC’s
regulations.  These rules were initially put in place to ensure that these entities could easily access and 
stay familiar with those regulations.  But now that all of this is readily available online, many see these
requirements as outdated and unnecessary. We’re inclined to agree.
Under our proposal, licensees would still have to remain familiar with the rules.  They’d simply 
be given the option of doing so online, and wouldn’t be mandated to maintain paper copies that hardly 
anybody uses anymore.  Every dollar that broadcast and cable entities don’t have to spend keeping paper 
copies of something that’s an Internet search away can be spent on providing better service to the public. 
Thank you to Michelle Carey, Martha Heller, Mary Beth Murphy, and Raelynn Remy of the 
Media Bureau for your work on this Notice, and thank you in advance for your work on the many Notices
to come as we go about modernizing our media regulations.