STATEMENT OF
CHAIRMAN TOM WHEELER
Re: Amendment of Section 73.1216 of the Commission’s Rules Related to Broadcast Licensee-
Conducted Contests, MB Docket No. 14-226
Today, we are taking an important step to modernize the way Americans receive and understand 
information –specifically contest rules – in the digital age.
Almost forty years ago, the Commission adopted the Contest Rule to ensure that television and 
radio broadcasters would conduct contests fairly and substantially as represented to the public. At that 
time, the Commission adopted the rule out of concern about the ways in which broadcasters were 
conducting contests over the air.
Since then, we are now living in what I like to call the fourth great network revolution – the 
marriage of computing and connectivity. Americans obtain information today in ways that are vastly 
different from when the Contest Rule was adopted. Recent information reveals that Americans spend 
more time using their mobile devices than they do watching television. Access to the Internet is more 
ubiquitous than access to television – so we should reflect that in our rules.
While requiring broadcasters to comply with their obligation to disclose important contest 
information through on-air announcements made sense when the radio and television were dominant 
methods of accessing information, such a requirement is less useful today. Revising the Contest Rule in a 
way that reflects how the public accesses and consumes information in the 21st Century only makes 
sense.
To that end, we are proposing to update the Contest Rule by allowing broadcasters to meet their 
obligation to disclose important contest information either through broadcast announcements or by 
making such information available on the Internet. In addition, we are proposing rule changes that would 
define the disclosure obligation in cases where a broadcaster has chosen to meet that obligation easily 
through an Internet website.
Updating the Contest Rule as proposed gives consumers the option to make informed decisions 
by accessing contest information “on demand” and allowing them to review it at their convenience. 
Allowing stations to disclose contest information on the Internet would also meet consumer expectations 
about how and where to obtain this kind of information.
The proposed rule changes would also give broadcasters more flexibility in the methods by which 
to meet their obligation to disclose important contest information, without relaxing their duty to conduct 
contests with due regard for the public interest. It’s important to note that we are giving broadcasters a 
new option, but they can meet their obligation using today’s current requirements.
I applaud the leadership of my colleagues up here with me today, especially that of Commissioner 
O’Rielly. I would also like to thank the Media Bureau staff for their hard work, with a special call out to 
Raelynn Remy and Mary Beth Murphy in the Policy Division and Media Bureau Chief Bill Lake. Thanks 
to you all—both in this room and out of it—we have advanced the ball in a significant way.
By launching this rulemaking, the Commission is taking another step to modernize its rules in a 
way that capitalizes on the Internet’s ubiquity and efficiency to meet the needs and expectations of 
consumers. The Commission recognizes that the Internet is an effective tool for distributing information 
to consumers, and today’s action is consistent with that value.